Laughable Adam Simpson photo sums up West Coast Eagles horror show

A photo of Eagles coach Adam Simpson during Sunday’s awful loss said more about West Coast’s predicament than words ever could.

Adam Simpson could not watch.

Adam Simpson couldn’t bear to watch.

As the Western Bulldogs hammered West Coast 13.20 (98) to 6.7 (43) on Sunday afternoon, the only silver lining was at least some Eagles fans didn’t have to sit through the horror show because the game was played in an empty stadium after a new Covid-19 case in WA was confirmed.

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The 55-point defeat leaves West Coast seventh, with eight wins and five losses, as critics take aim at the club for looking more like a premiership pretender than contender.

Simpson was filthy with what his side was dishing up. At one point cameras caught him in the coaching box pulling his mask over his eyes so he could be spared the torture of seeing the Bulldogs run riot.

One of those days...#AFLEaglesDogspic.twitter.com/Q7LaVANrfw

— Joshua Dawe (@joshuadawe9) June 27, 2021

As Covid-19 complications threaten the AFL season and spark debate about whether hubs will be necessary again, Simpson said leaving home won’t worry the Eagles but admitted they’re not playing anywhere near the standard required to challenge the league’s top sides.

“For us to get anywhere this year, we’ve got to win anywhere, at any time, and we’ve got to play at our absolute best, especially against a side like the Bulldogs,” Simpson said.

“We’re just not at that level.

“If it’s a few weeks on the road, we’ll do it. Honestly I think all those issues and challenges about how to handle it, they’re in the past. Just tell us what we’re doing, and we’ll do it.

“Our goal from the start of the year was to qualify for finals as quick as we can. At the moment, we are nowhere near that. We know what’s in front of us.

“We need to learn from today, which we will. We need to get better which I hope we will. That starts with the review. We’ve got to be pretty pragmatic about it, accept what’s in front of us and move on.”

The Eagles had no answers on Sunday (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images).

Eagles ‘destroyed’ on their home turf

Footy journalist Damian Barrett told the AFL Daily podcast the Eagles have “gone back to that flakiness which has dogged a lot of their high-end potential since that flag of 2018” and said the home team never recovered after being “blown away early”.

The only thing that prevented the margin from being even wider was the Dogs’ wayward kicking, as they registered 20 behinds.

Journalist Nat Edwards said there’s no way a side that looks like West Coast on paper should be beaten as badly as it was by Luke Beveridge’s troops.

“You look at that midfield on paper and it is an absolutely star-studded line-up,” Edwards told AFL Daily. “I know that (Luke) Shuey and (Tim) Kelly were (playing their) first games back from injury but that midfield failed to fire.

“The Dogs smashed them in the clearances 44-29, plus-30 in contested ball. The midfield there was destroyed.

“West Coast fans out there must be pulling their hair out because you’re waiting for the real team to stand up.

“Who are West Coast? Are we completely overrating them? Because they’ve got so much talent on this list and they’re just not firing a shot at the moment.”