Coach Adam Simpson says he can see improvement within the West Coast squad, even if he’s not quite able to define it.
The Eagles defeated Geelong at Domain Stadium on Sunday, overcoming early inaccuracy in front of goal to run out 56-point winners.
Following his team’s sixth consecutive win, and seventh for the season, Simpson told 6PR that the structures and skills that may have been new this time last year are becoming second nature for the players.
“What we’re trying to educate our players on hasn’t changed,” Simpson said.
“The game day knowledge, I can see improvement. I can’t define it, but I can see things are a lot more instinctive with our senior players.
“Our younger players coming through now seem to have a better grasp on how we want the game played.
“I think with a young group that’s learning a new style and a new system, you’ve got to have a bit of patience.
“It just takes time to get that long-term memory and I think some of our players are turning the corner in that sense, but we’ve still got a fair bit of work to do.”
West Coast faces North Melbourne in Hobart this weekend in perhaps the biggest test of the season so far.
Key forward Josh Kennedy, who is leading the Coleman Medal tally by six goals, will line up for his 150th career game, having played 22 games for Carlton before joining the Eagles in 2008.
Although impressed with Kennedy’s dominance in recent weeks, Simpson said he was wary of becoming too “Kennedy-centric”.
“It’s important to find that balance,” Simpson said.
“You don’t want to kick to [Josh] all the time.
“We’ve got an eye on that because we don’t want to be too Kennedy-centric. It would be quite easy to defend.
“We feel it’s important that sometimes you’ve got to get in there deep, and sometimes you’ve got to connect with Josh Hill or LeCras.
“We’re looking for good balance with our entries.”
Simpson said the team was looking forward to travelling to Hobart this weekend and has happy memories of the last encounter with the Kangaroos at Blundstone Arena in 2012.
“The players played there three years ago and they might have had a really good victory with [Dean] Coxy giving a best-on-ground performance, so he tells me,” Simpson said.
“He won the game off his own boot and they had a good victory.
“They said it was a magnificent ground and they enjoy playing there.
“It’s a big trip and it’s a big ask, but we’re up for the challenge.”
