Simpson says fans are right to question Eagles’ effort after Geelong thrashing

West Coast suffered its biggest loss under Adam Simpson on Saturday, going down by almost 100 points to a polished Cats outfit.

The Eagles were outmuscled in the game’s final three quarters.

A blunt Adam Simpson assessed his side’s 97-point belting at the hands of Geelong as “embarrassing”.

“We got annihilated in every aspect of the game which was really disappointing,” Simpson said. “It was an embarrassing performance after quarter time, and you get what you deserve in the game really. Had a go in the first quarter, quite competitive in the first quarter, around the contest, field position. In the second quarter we just got blown away.”

Simpson admitted the performance came down to effort, with the Cats running all over the Eagles after West Coast three of the first four goals of the game.

“You can question our effort, you can,” Simpson admitted. “It’s really disappointing. I think there’s stages in games from experience where you get a glazed look over your face and you don’t know what to do and that’s my job, it’s our coaches’ job to realign it and reset it and we couldn’t find a way to get our guys mentally back in the game. Physically, we looked weak.”

“Absolutely no excuses for what we did. You can lose over here, it happens, but you want to be a brand you’re proud of. We’re not at Geelong’s level at the moment. They put the foot down and we couldn’t stop it.”

The loss comes with a potentially greater cost, as star defender Jeremy McGovern was subbed out of the game with an adductor injury in the second quarter.

Jeremy Cameron won’t forget his first game as a Cat any time soon.

CATS BACK ON TRACK

Kicking 20 of the last 23 goals of the game, coach Chris Scott was predictably pleased with Geelong’s performance on Saturday afternoon.

“We played much more like the way we’ve been trying to play,” Scott said. “I thought the execution after quarter time was obviously exceptional.”

“We’ve always thought cohesion is important for our football team, at least this iteration, and particularly in our forward half we just haven’t had it,” Scott said.

“There’s still a bit to work on but it looked more cohesive even though Cameron was playing his first game and [Gary] Rohan has been interrupted. That cohesion piece is something we’ll focus on and unfortunately you can’t fix it overnight, you just have to get the games together and train together to build that.”

Scott hinted at the possibility of going even taller at the selection table, with Esava Ratugolea yet to make his season debut after suffering a leg fracture in the off-season.

“We won’t be as tall as West Coast even if we play Esava,” Scott said. “They at least show an example of how it can be really effective with lots of talls.”

“I’ll be specific. I love Esava and when he’s up and going I think he’s in my best team. Now whether my best team gets up over the other guys is going to be a healthy debate.”

The only sour note from the afternoon were injuries to Mark O’Connor (hamstring) and Jake Kolodjashnij (knee), with the severity to be determined in the coming days.

Originally published as Simpson says fans are right to question Eagles’ effort after Geelong thrashing