West Coast forward Josh Kennedy saw signs of promise in a slightly altered game-plan last night, despite the Eagles coming up short in a tough defeat to North Melbourne.

After giving up a fourth quarter lead, the Eagles continue to search for answers to momentum swings which have plagued them throughout the season.

Dual Coleman medallist Kennedy explained the playing group felt ‘a lot better’ in their setup against North Melbourne, but failed to execute, with missed shots on goal ultimately proving costly after heading into half-time with 3.10 on the scoreboard.

“We had a few missed shots, a few missed opportunities which doesn’t go well towards the last end of the game, as a forward line for us, that was a bit disappointing,” Kennedy told 6PR.

“The first half for us was pretty good, we just didn’t take the opportunities and we just need to keep building on that in terms of the way we want to play.

“In terms of being on the same page, as a unit with how we wanted to play, that was a lot better last night.

“That’s probably been an issue over the last few weeks and the course of the year in terms of consistency and being connected on field.

“We just didn’t take our opportunities which kept them in the game.”

Kennedy said the side felt a momentum shift in the third term last night – when the Eagles scored only two behinds – which was difficult to reclaim despite the home ground advantage.

“In that second half our pressure dropped off a little bit, probably a lot in that third quarter and we couldn’t get it forward so they took a bit of their opportunities and momentum changed,” he said.

“With those momentum swings, we were under the pump in that third and didn’t get much ball up towards the forwards in the inside 50s.

“They controlled a lot of the footy, we didn’t really have our hands on it and then in the last I think Nic (Naitanui) really stood up, I think he played well all day as he does in the guts, he had some clearances coming so we were able to get some field position.

“We got ahead, kicked three or four in a row then they did the same and held on towards the end.

“Then they dropped the hammer a bit and we couldn’t handle that momentum swing.”

The Eagles came into last night’s match ranked 18^th across the competition for forward-half intercepts, with 21 per match, but won 20 in the first half, as well as dominating the inside 50 count and shots on goal.

Kennedy explains the side will look at what they did well in the first half in a bid to bounce back against the Crows in Adelaide this Sunday.

“We’re the ones trying to execute what we put in during the week so as a playing group it’s disappointing to not win,” he said.

“We took a step forward in the way we wanted to play and that first half kind of showed a bit of how we want to do it.

“It felt a lot better connected in the way we were playing last night. That first half showed it.

“The consistency of the four-quarter effort, our third quarter the pressure dropped off, that put us under the pump because it let them back in and away it went.

“We felt a lot more connected in the way we have were playing and the consistency over four quarters now has got to be the biggest thing.”