West Coast coach Adam Simpson says the Eagles’ inability to halt momentum is costing the team dearly following consecutive losses to the Western Bulldogs and Sydney.
After being beaten by the Dogs at Optus Stadium by 55 points, the Eagles were unable to respond at GMHBA Stadium as the Swans ran away with a 92-point triumph.
“We got outplayed for most of the day. I thought defensively we were poor, which made it really hard to get any type of ball movement,” Simpson said post-match.
“The contest stuff was reasonably level, but they were cleaner. They transitioned the ball a lot better than we did and before we knew it the game was out of our reach.
“We reset, changed a couple of things at half-time to some small success but not a lot. Then the last quarter we didn’t take any of our chances but to be honest most areas of the day we were outplayed.”
West Coast’s inability to put the brakes on opposition run-ons has hurt badly at times this year, including in a 97-point defeat to the Cats in round six.
Simpson said the players and coaches would continue looking into the team’s method ahead of a must-win game against North Melbourne in round 17.
“That’s now a pattern. Two weeks ago we were coming off a really good win against the Tigers after a good win against Carlton interstate, so we thought were on the right track but I think we’ve got to look at a bit of what we do,” Simpson said.
“We’ll assess that, we won’t go completely sideways on it, but we’ve got to look at some of the things we’re doing an some of it’s workrate and being clean.
“We’ll keep training that. We’ve identified that’s an area we really want to focus on, we’ve been training it for a few weeks so hopefully that comes to fruition sooner rather than later.
“But that inability to stop momentum is costing us dearly.
“We just don’t look as connected as we have been in the past with how we defend and how we move the ball.
“Part of that is (being) willing to work, so we need to get hold of that.
“We’ve got to look at all aspects.”
The senior coach was uncertain about the extent of Jack Redden’s knee injury which saw him subbed off before half-time, but hoped late withdrawal Andrew Gaff and Jamaine Jones would be OK to face the Roos.
“Gaffy’s just got a little thumb issue. We tested it yesterday and just thought it wasn’t worth the risk – he was in too much pain with it all,” Simpson said.
“Jones has an ankle sprain. Hopefully it’s not the bad one.”
West Coast remains in seventh spot with an 8-7 record following Sunday’s loss, and is a win clear inside the top eight with seven games to play.
