Co-captain Oscar Allen says West Coast's players will refocus on the contest in their bid to bounce back from a bitterly disappointing loss to Hawthorn and challenge Melbourne at the MCG.
Beaten in all facets last Sunday, the Eagles are making no excuses and zeroing-in their fundamentals of being stronger around the ball and improving their team defence.
“A response is about how we can play our brand of footy,” Allen told reporters on Tuesday.
“We played this team, Melbourne, eight weeks ago and it was by far the best game that we’ve played in a long period of time.
“That was based around the contest, being tough around the ball, winning it and getting the game played in our forward half. That’s a challenge for us internally in the next five days, how can we get the group in a mindspace to move forward.
“The side we had out on the weekend was probably on paper the best side we’ve had so this year. That was probably the other disappointing aspect of the weekend as well.”
Allen understood fans’ frustration following the 61-point Hawthorn defeat, with nearly 50,000 fans witnessing a sub-par display at Optus Stadium.
“We owe our fans. 50,000 fans showed up on the weekend as a WA person, someone who grew up supporting West Coast, I understand how much that hurts for those people,” Allen said.
“We’re incredibly grateful to them. We let them down and us as a playing group we let the whole footy club down.
“There definitely is an expectation and need of a response from the playing group.”
Senior coach Adam Simpson labelled the performance as bitterly disappointing from start to finish, and Allen admitted the entire playing group had to get better.
“As a leader of the group that was out there on the weekend that wasn’t acceptable,” Allen said.
“We’re clearly frustrated and we understand why our fans and supporters are frustrated as well, so we’re owning that.
“We’ve just got to get back to work and get better. We’ve got a game in five days’ time.
“Everyone in these four walls has ‘Simmo’s’ back. It was disappointing how we performed on the weekend.
“We’ve got to own that on the chin, and as a leader I’ve got to own that as well coming back into the side and didn’t perform at a level I’d like to as well.”
