West Coast interim coach Jarrad Schofield said the Eagles did not play purely emotionally and praised their resilience after pushing red-hot Brisbane to the limit in a 13-point loss at Optus Stadium.
Several young players, including Harley Reid, Reuben Ginbey, Ryan Maric and Zane Trew, impressed in the 16.10 (106) to 14.9 (93) defeat, but Schofield says that does not mean he will start handing out games for free to young players.
The Eagles went into the game on the back of an emotional week after the club parted ways with coach Adam Simpson on Tuesday, who for many players had been their only AFL coach.
A reaction was to be expected and the Eagles proved to be a great challenge for the high-flying Lions, who claimed their sixth consecutive win, albeit only after a fight.
When asked if they were inspired by the week’s events, Schofield said: “I wouldn’t say inspired, but I think they’re a pretty resilient group.”
“We’ve worked hard from day one of preseason to build our identity and that’s the only thing I asked them to do before the game, to really figure out what our identity looks like.
“We have an identity as people, as people outside the club, as athletes, and we want to create an identity as a football team and as a football club so that our 41,000 fans who have come here today to support us on a somewhat gloomy day are proud to be able to follow us.”
West Coast got off to a strong start just moments after Simpson addressed the crowd, playing fast and exciting football that Schofield described as a “mad mess”.
“My message was again: We’re here to get better. We’re here to pursue this identity and build on it. I’m more concerned with expressing ourselves,” Schofield said.
“That was the message at the start of preseason, to express yourself but also to have the freedom to do that within our discipline and whatever that might look like for each individual, we wanted them to express that.
“They were a bit chaotic at first, but I loved it. We were getting the ball forward, we were winning games. The only thing we probably noticed at the time was that sometimes we didn’t get the ball forward far enough and they were able to rebound the ball back to us. And a good team makes you pay for that.”
The Eagles now have a six-day break before facing St Kilda at Marvel Stadium on Saturday morning, a challenge they will have to tackle without co-captain Liam Duggan, who suffered his second concussion of the season.
The participation of striker Tyler Brockman is also questionable after he sustained an ankle injury in the third period.
Schofield will have plenty to look forward to after the WAFL side recorded an eight-point win over West Perth, but he is warned that just because the team is in a rebuild doesn’t mean he will give everyone a chance.
“Like every week, we give the players a chance if they perform,” he said.
“Yes, we are in an exploratory phase over the next six weeks where we want to see what some of the guys can do, but we are not here to give away games.
“We’re really positive and encouraging the players and they know exactly what they have to do. If you’re going to win a WAFL game you have to perform well.”