Eagles coach Adam Simpson says he is not worried about the team’s form heading into Saturday’s clash with Melbourne after the bye.
West Coast will travel to Darwin this week to face the Demons who are also coming off a week’s rest.
Although the Eagles lost both of their matches after the two byes last season (Collingwood in round 10 and Richmond in round 18), Simpson is predicting an even contest on Saturday.
“To be honest, I'm not reading too much into it,” Simpson told 6PR on Monday night.
“I don't think there's enough evidence to say that we're good or bad yet.
“But the good thing is Melbourne are coming off a bye as well and it should be two pretty equal teams.”
At the start of the season, many critics would have selected Saturday’s clash as an easy win for the Eagles, but Melbourne’s remarkable performance against Geelong in round 12 suggests otherwise.
The Demons broke a 10-year drought at Simonds Stadium with a stunning 24-point win over the Cats, impressing onlookers with their defensive structures.
Simpson said he is preparing his players for a tough, one-on-one battle in Darwin.
“I've had a good look at the game they played in Geelong and we've got to find out if it's more the way they play or the way they strategised against the Cats, because it was a unique game looking at the vision behind the goals,” Simpson said.
“We need to prepare for a different style with Melbourne.
“They've been really good at contested footy in the last month and I think they've only lost one quarter in the last four weeks from the contested battles.
“We pride ourselves on that, we think we're getting better at it, but we're not where we want to be, so I think it could be one of those one-on-one type of games.”
The Eagles were nursing a number of sore players in the lead up to the bye, including defender Jeremy McGovern who copped a few heavy knocks in recent weeks.
But Simpson is happy with the health of the list after a week off and is expecting some selection headaches in the lead up to Saturday’s clash.
“All of our players have recovered to the point where they all trained on Saturday and they all trained today,” Simpson said.
“For the first time in a long time, we've had some really good numbers on the track, we might have had close to 40 available today to train which has been as low as 26.
“It’s a good problem to have with selection and it's good to have a healthier list than we've had in the past.”
Listen to Simpson's full interview below.
