West Coast have damaged their silence following their extraordinary defeat by the hands of Sydney on the SCG on Saturday evening.
The 171-point mauling was by some margin the most important loss in West Coast’s historical past, the 171-point smashing beating out the earlier mark of 142 factors set at Windy Hill towards Essendon in 1989.
Watch each match of each spherical of the 2023 Toyota AFL Premiership Season LIVE on Kayo Sports. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >
The Eagles’ 31.19 (205) to five.4 (34) drubbing noticed data quickly tumble beneath the Sydney twilight, seeing the best rating conceded in West Coast’s historical past, Sydney’s highest-ever three-quarter-time rating, Sydney’s equal-highest successful margin, and simply the third time the Swans have ever reached the double ton.
It is the primary time an AFL membership has reached 200 factors since 2011.
Following a weekend the place the membership was savaged on social media amid calls to sack Simpson, Paul Fitzpatrick, chair of the West Coast board, launched an announcement on Sunday evening.
“Yesterday’s defeat at the Sydney Cricket Ground was one of the darkest days in the history of the football club,” the assertion learn.
“Losing in the way that we did to Sydney was unacceptable. The 171-point margin aside, what we produced on the field was not representative of what the West Coast Eagles has stood – and still stands – for.
“We know our members and fans are hurting and so is everyone inside the football club. We all take a degree of responsibility for where we sit currently and equally we are all committed to fighting our way through this situation.
“It is important to get games into young players and fast track their development. We had nine players under the age of 21 take the field against the Swans and we expect them to be very good AFL players.
“But we need our senior players to set a better example for them. With a couple of exceptions many of the experienced players were well down yesterday.
“Obviously Adam Simpson and his coaching staff have been limited with what they can do with such a long injury list, but regardless we cannot tolerate performances of that nature and we expect a strong response against St Kilda next Sunday.
“We do have faith that Adam can take this team forward and we also believe in the path we need to take to fight our way back.
“It will take time because the long-term strategy revolves around bringing in more high-end young talent through the draft to lay solid foundations for the next era.
“In closing, we do hear you and we urge you to stick with us through this. We need you more than ever. It will turn because everyone at the club is prepared to roll up their sleeves and get it done.
“We can do it together.”
Source: www.news.com.au
