Following a competitive display against Sydney last weekend, the West Coast Eagles will face Richmond on Sunday at Optus Stadium.
While the game has been labelled as ‘winnable’ for the home team, coach Adam Simpson said the team won’t be underestimating the Tigers.
“New coach, but their DNA seems pretty familiar with how they go about it,” Simpson said.
“So that, combined with Adem’s (Yze) new style, it’s pretty dangerous, and they’ve been in every game they’ve played.
“They’ve had a tough draw as well, so we’re definitely not taking anything lightly with Richmond.”
The Eagles showed spirit and drive against the Swans, producing an impressive performance despite the final result, but Simpson said the team is not satisfied.
“Obviously we’ve still got a lot of work to do, I don’t think we’re satisfied at all,” Simpson said.
“We were competitive on the weekend, which was great, but we didn’t win, and ultimately, that’s what we’re playing for.
“But there’s some things there that we’re trying to get better at, and we see evidence that two or three weeks in a row we’ve been good at certain areas of the game, but there’s a lot of work to do.”
As the West Coast build continues, Simpson said he will continue to focus on smaller goals, while a full four-quarter performance is on the horizon.
“Ground balls in general, we’re top four or five in the comp, which is a pretty big improvement from last year,” Simpson said.
“Clearances, we were poor last week, but we’ve been ok at that, inside 50s, we had 50-plus two weeks in a row.
“So little things like that, we’re using as a real positive, but in terms of bringing it all together in a four-quarter performance, we’re not quite there yet.”
The increase in pressure around the ground from the Eagles was evident in last week’s game, and Simpson said it’s something they want to continue to get better at.
“We’d been poor at that this year, and we want to be good at that,” Simpson said.
“We were (ranked) 18th for the first three rounds so we put a big effort on trying to put more pressure on.
“The best teams do that, so we’re definitely after that this week.”
This Sunday’s game will recognise and celebrate the Eagles’ first ever game, played against Richmond in round one of the 1987 season.
“I think there’s 30-odd (players from the inaugural team) coming to training on Saturday and coming to the game, pre-game we will get them in the rooms and connect our players with them,” Simpson said.
“Dani Laidley is here today, she was a part of that group as well, Ross Glendinning is at the club, so yeah, we’re really going to celebrate that one.”
