West Coast coach Andrew McQualter confident of response against Brisbane after team review

West Coast coach Andrew McQualter believes the Eagles have identified and rectified the fatal flaws that let them down against Gold Coast in Round 1.

West Coast coach Andrew McQualter believes the Eagles have identified and rectified the fatal flaws that let them down against Gold Coast in Round 1.

The Eagles were belted around the ball by the Suns in McQualter’s first game at the helm, losing the contested possession count by 43. West Coast also lost clearances 50-33 and hitouts 77-19.

Without giving away everything the Eagles had learnt from an in-depth review, McQualter declared that there were several simple fixes West Coast will put into action on Sunday against reigning premiers Brisbane.

“We had a great team review the other day,” he said.

Andrew McQualter’s Eagles debut went poorly. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

“There’s some things in that game we got wrong.

“The scoreboard told us that.

“We’re confident we’ll put some things into our game, particularly around the contest. They were the biggest things that came out of the game.

“Our contest work was down. But there’s a bit more to it. Our work rate wasn’t at the level it needed to be. There’s some things within our control we’ll rectify this week.

“The things we’ve reviewed we’re confident we can fix straight away. Whether that means we win the game or the contest, it doesn’t but it gives us much more of a chance.

“It was a bad game of football but it was one game. It’s easy to flip everything upside down after we’ve trained it all summer but we’re not going to do that. We’ve got a plan. We clearly haven’t gotten it right in Round 1.”

Jake Waterman will miss the clash. Picture: Daniel Carson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Liam Ryan could return. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

Jake Waterman will be unavailable due to referred calf pain stemming from a back disc issue. McQualter said the Eagles had every intention for the All-Australian forward to face the Lions after subbing him out in the second half but he now faces up to a fortnight on the sidelines.

It opens the door for Jack Williams to return to the senior team as a tall target in attack. First round draft pick Bo Allan is also in contention to debut after recovering from illness via the WAFL.

Liam Ryan trained with the main group after coming “really close” to facing the Suns with hamstring awareness. While Liam Duggan, who suffered an ankle scare late against the Suns, started the session running on the sidelines before joining in some drills.

Co-captain Oscar Allen brought the group together before training to deliver a rally cry.

McQualter said the Eagles will continue to support young star Harley Reid following criticism he was more interested in off-the-ball scuffles than winning the footy.

Harley Reid has come under fire. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

“If I’m being really honest, I don’t read any of it,” he said. “There’s so many opinions going around at the moment so it’s really important to understand what we value.

“(He) didn’t have a great game…part of a midfield that didn’t have a great game. We’ll get to work.”

Incumbent ruck Matt Flynn and Round 1 emergency Bailey Williams will also continue to fight for selection after the former was comprehensively beaten by Jarrod Witts in Round 1.

“Every week, we’ll have competition with our rucks I’m hoping,” McQualter said. “That’s a good thing for us to have.

“It will be form dependent. It will be opposition-dependent. It might be who can play a little bit forward as well. We’ll keep working our way through that.”

Originally published as West Coast coach Andrew McQualter confident of response against Brisbane after team review