Amid the various damning statistics and so few little wins, West Coast confirmed sufficient metal of their backbone to encourage coach Adam Simpson.
It in all probability would have taken greater than absentees Harley Reid and Tom Barrass to save lots of the Eagles, who had been blitzed within the third time period on Sunday of their AFL match in opposition to Gold Coast at Carrara.
Thanks largely to Suns co-captain Jarrod Witts, the house facet dominated the ruck hitouts 63-18 and the centre clearances 19-7.
The Suns additionally comfortably received contested possessions 148-112 and had 67 inside 50s to 35.
But after trailling by 34 factors at three-quarter time, West Coast had been solely three objectives adrift with 5 minutes left, earlier than dropping by 37.
“Just that 15-20 minutes of resilience was all I needed to see to suggest they have some spirit there,” Simpson mentioned of their last-quarter rally.
“But we have a heap of work – around the contest was not up to scratch.
“It felt like we left an excessive amount of as much as too few and their good gamers performed rather well round that space.”
Sunday was a step backwards for West Coast after successive wins.
Simpson said their poor contested work would be a focus this week ahead of Saturday night’s home match against resurgent Essendon.
“The little wins we’re chasing, we in all probability did not get a lot of these right this moment, however I did see a little bit of resilience within the group,” he mentioned.
“We’ll undoubtedly take a look at this as a studying sport. It will not be ‘convey your mouthguards on Monday’, however we have now to get higher at that contest half.”
West Coast also lost the free-kick count 30-19 and Simpson, again, was blunt.
“We should personal that free kick rely – from what I noticed, most of them had been there,” he mentioned.
“So, second to the ball, or a bit hesitant, or a little bit of each, once you’re determined to attempt to flip issues round generally you do these issues.
“I’m not going to say it was ill-disciplined, it was just poorly executed.”
West Coast will regain Reid, who was rested, and Barrass from suspension.
Simpson stays adamant that Reid wanted the week’s relaxation.
“Missing one game, but we get him for 22, you do it every day of the week,” he mentioned.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
