Eagles aim for win over West Adelaide to sew up top-three finish

THE equation is simple for Woodville-West Torrens when it comes up against West Adelaide at Richmond Oval on Sunday.

Double chance on line for Eagles

THE equation is simple for Woodville-West Torrens when it comes up against West Adelaide at Richmond Oval on Sunday.

If the Eagles beat the Bloods in the final minor round a top three spot - and the crucial double chance in the finals - is theirs.

After the 41-point loss to Norwood at Woodville Oval on Sunday, the Eagles slipped to third on the premiership ladder, just a game ahead of North Adelaide and Central District.

They have inferior percentage to the Roosters and similar percentage to the Bulldogs.

If the Bulldogs conquer Sturt at Unley on Sunday they can jump into the top three if the Roosters and Eagles lose.

"We have to win to make the top and the top three and that is the way we look at it,'' Eagles coach Michael Godden said.

Despite the disappointing defeat, Godden believes hot premiership favourite Norwood can still be beaten.

He lamented the ball handling of his players and their inability to stick to the game plan for longer than a 10-minute period in the second quarter.

"In the second quarter we scored 16 points to one and played a bit more of the brand of footy we wanted,'' Godden said.

"There was probably only 10 minutes of the whole day we stuck to the plan.

"That is what annoyed me the most - the players did not have the trust in me to execute what we wanted to do.''

Godden said his players were fumbling, missed handballs and looked fatigued.

He denied that a perceived lack of speed was also an issue.

"Physically and mentally I was disappointed how we came off the bye,'' Godden said.

"We did everything right but they were not hardened enough.

"It (lack of pace) seems to come up every time we lose but that is not an issue.

"We have blokes who can really run but they did not against Norwood.''

The Eagles will be without ruckman Craig Parry for another week while he serves his two-match suspension.

His absence had a huge impact on the Eagles, who were well beaten in the ruck against the Redlegs.