Adam Simpson didn’t hide his feelings in Suns loss which…

Even with so few small victories and so many damning statistics, West Coast showed enough fortitude to inspire coach Adam Simpson.

The Eagles were thrashed in the third quarter of their AFL encounter against Gold Coast at Carrara on Sunday, and it most likely would have taken more than the absences of Harley Reid and Tom Barrass to save them.

The home team won the centre clearances 19-7 and the ruck hitouts 63-18, mostly thanks to Suns co-captain Jarrod Witts.

In addition, the Suns easily prevailed 148–112 in disputed possessions and had 67 inside 50s to 35.

But after trailling by 34 points at three-quarter time, West Coast were only three goals adrift with five minutes left, before losing by 37.

“Just that 15-20 minutes of resilience was all I needed to see to suggest they have some spirit there,” Simpson said of their last-quarter rally. “But we have a heap of work – around the contest was not up to scratch. “It felt like we left too much up to too few and their good players played really well around that area.” Sunday was a step backwards for West Coast after successive wins. Simpson said their poor contested work would be a focus this week ahead of Saturday night’s home match against resurgent Essendon.

“The little wins we’re chasing, we probably didn’t get many of those today, but I did see a bit of resilience in the group,” he said. “We’ll definitely look at this as a learning game. It won’t be ‘bring your mouthguards on Monday’, but we have to get better at that contest part.” West Coast also lost the free-kick count 30-19 and Simpson, again, was blunt. “We have to own that free kick count – from what I saw, most of them were there,” he said.

“So, second to the ball, or a bit hesitant, or a bit of both, when you’re desperate to try and turn things around sometimes you do those things. “I’m not going to say it was ill-disciplined, it was just poorly executed.” said

Reid, who took a break, and Barrass, who was suspended, will return to the West Coast. Simpson is still sure that Reid required a week off. “Missing one game, but we get him for 22, you do it every day of the week,” he said.