As the West Coast Eagles 2024 campaign concluded on Saturday with a 46-point loss to Sydney at Henson Park, senior coach Daisy Pearce reflected on her first season at the helm.
“I’ve enjoyed it, it’s been a challenge, and I’ve never worked harder, everything everyone told me about being a senior coach is true,” Pearce said with a smile.
“But I’ve loved it, I think just how willing the girls are to learn, and how hungry they are to improve has made my job a whole lot easier, as has a really passionate group of people that I get to work with.
“It’s certainly not a one-person job and I’ve relied on a lot of people’s experience and help.
“But really looking forward now, knowing the group a bit better and knowing what I know about myself as a coach, and what the season demands, to have a bit of a reset and go after all the little things we need improve on is exciting.”
While Saturday’s result was a disappointing end to what has been the Eagles’ most successful AFLW season to date, Pearce said the team continues to build and show positive signs.
“Credit to Sydney, they just outworked us in the middle of the ground a number of times,” Pearce said.
“Their ability to get the ball going their way, and then to have three Sydney jumpers turning up first at the next contest, it’s a credit to them, and something we need to be more consistent at.”
“We’ve been building, and not getting results in terms on wins, but we’ve seen some really positive signs of our game coming together with how we’ve been moving the ball and getting better and better around the contest.
“I thought we started the game really well, maybe just didn’t take our opportunities when we had time in our forward half, overused the ball a little bit in that first quarter.”
West Coast’s midfield is made up of a number of elite young players, including Bella Lewis who played her 50th game for the club on Saturday, and Pearce praised the development of the team’s youth.
“Every game they (midfielders) play, they’re just developing, it’s crazy to think that Bella (Lewis) is just 21 years old in her 50th game,” Pearce said.
“I thought Abbygail Bushby played an outstanding game today, just her aggression at the contest, how clean she was in tough conditions, able to find space driving her legs out, I thought that was her best game for the season.
“Throw her in the mix with those others, plus Charlie (Thomas) I thought fought pretty hard down back against tough opposition with the ball coming in at speed, she was able to get off and win it a couple of times herself.
“There’s so many positive signs that we’re really excited about, and days like today they will learn even more.”
Looking ahead to 2025, Pearce said the club’s investment in the AFLW program has been and will continue to be very important going forward.
“We’ve just been so grateful of the support from the footy club this year, not just of me but of our whole program,” Pearce said.
“It’s been able to translate to our improvement, but also just the investment and how bought in the entire footy club is to seeing us continue to improve and go after success has been really important, it gives me great excitement for the future.”
