The fluctuation between West Coast’s best and worst was again evident in Saturday night’s loss to Essendon, and coach Adam Simpson admits the Eagles are still searching for consistency within games at the mid-point of the season.
After 11 matches, the Eagles sit seventh on the ladder following their first Optus Stadium defeat for the season – a 16-point loss to the Bombers.
West Coast’s fifth defeat for the season came after the team was in a winning position leading by 29 points during the second quarter, a familiar theme in losses to the Western Bulldogs and St Kilda.
“I think we’ve been talking for a lot of the year about our consistency in quarters in games,” Simpson told Channel Seven.
“At the moment, we feel like the best is really good, and when we’re not at our best and we lose momentum we’re not arresting it back.
“Multitude of reasons. We’re working through them all. This week I thought we didn’t win a contest in front of the ball and we got outworked on the outside.
“We’ll address that, we’ll look at it this week, but it hasn’t been the case the whole year.
"We’ve got to work through those issues the next few weeks.”
The Eagles’ cause wasn’t helped by second-quarter injuries suffered by midfield gun Tim Kelly (knee) and young tall Oscar Allen (concussion), and both will miss Sunday’s clash with Carlton.
Given the COVID-19 situation in Melbourne, the Eagles are likely to travel to face the Blues at the SCG, where they will be aiming to snap a nine-game losing streak at the small, circular venue.
“It’s all part of the game. It’s part of the challenge,” Simpson said.
“Footy’s hard, winning’s hard, so regrouping today, look at the review, get better, demand more, train harder, all those things we’re doing.
“If our next win can be at Sydney that would be great.”
