West Coast coach Andrew McQualter has defended his team's performance despite a shocking 11-point defeat to the previously winless Richmond at Optus Stadium on Saturday, insisting the Eagles have shown improvement.
Match Summary
The Eagles entered the match as heavy favourites despite a four-match losing streak, while Richmond battled with 17 injuries and had not won since the corresponding game in round 19 of last year. However, the Tigers proved too fast and too strong, recording a 15.9 (99) to 13.10 (88) victory and spoiling West Coast's 20-year premiership reunion celebrations.
McQualter's Assessment
McQualter acknowledged the disappointment but highlighted positives from the loss that has drawn fan criticism. "I thought our football improved a bit today compared to what it had been the past few months," he said. "There were some parts of our game that were strong, but there were just some parts that let us down, and they took I think, nine contested marks in their forward 50."
The coach pointed to Richmond's experienced forwards Tom Lynch and Noah Balta as key factors. "We knew we were going in small and it was a slight risk. It's just a little bit of our lot at the moment that we've got. They're mature guys in that front half in particular ... they clunked a few and they scored from that which was a bit of a shame for us but there were parts of our game that I thought were OK."
Selection Criticism
McQualter faces scrutiny over his team selection, having recalled senior players Tom Cole and Matt Owies at the expense of 2024 first-round draft pick Bo Allan. The second-year coach defended his approach, stating it would not change despite the result. "It doesn't change ... we've got to make sure we never cut it too deep and go too young which we have a little bit this year already," he said.
"The risk is, if we expose all of our young players at once and just throw them in the same team together, it doesn't work, so we're not going to do that. I've been really consistent in that. And we've rewarded form for players at WAFL level and we'll continue to do that. This is a disappointing outcome but we're not going to catastrophise it. It's not the end of the world, we'll butter up, we'll get to work and keep trying to improve."
When asked if he picked the right side, McQualter replied: "It's one of those things in hindsight it's an easy question to ask, but the answer is I don't know. I can't answer it. We picked we thought the best 23 players to win this game of football and we didn't get the job done."
Discipline Issues
West Coast's discipline was again a problem, conceding 23 free kicks — seven more than Richmond — including costly 50-metre penalties that led to goals. "It hurt us, in the last quarter (they kicked) two goals from 50s and 23 free kicks against is a pretty high number," McQualter said. "There were a lot of free kicks paid, we gave away a large amount. It certainly hurts our pressure game, it hurts your ability to win the contest so it's a work on for us."
External Criticism
McQualter acknowledged the loss to the bottom-placed Tigers would draw heavy external criticism but remained focused on the long-term plan. "We've just got to keep working, keep training really hard, keep improving the way we play, keep educating our players," he said. "We're incredibly clear on our plan and what we're doing and the path we're on. We will have blips over the next little period of time, there's no question about that. It will be worth it."
He highlighted positive individual performances, including Willem Duusma's late-game moment and Harley Reid's strong showing. "We're getting games into Cooper (Duff-Tytler) and Josh (Lindsay) and Jobe (Shanahan) and Reuben (Ginbey) and all these guys are getting lots of games together which is important for us and part of our plan. And we'll keep working."
