The West Coast Eagles showed signs of the identity they are chasing and room for improvement after a 50-point loss to flag hopeful Port Adelaide on Sunday at Adelaide Oval.
After a strong start, the Eagles couldn’t match the electric Power ball movement, despite showing strength around the contest and clearances.
“We’re trying to forge a new identity and it’s based around the smaller things in the game you can’t compete without,” Simpson said post-match.
“There’s some things we did well, and some things we did poorly which we need to get to work on.
“Contest and groundballs and those type of things where we’ve been found wanting for a couple of years now we were competitive in that area – clearances, centre bounce and between the arcs.
“But the general play ball movement I think we really struggled to keep the ball in our front half and we couldn’t get it out of our back half.
“Those two combined put us under the pump. The spirit they showed halfway through the third, opened the game up a little bit, took it on and we saw some really good resilience.
“We really ran out of steam the last 15 minutes but we didn’t turn our toes up.”
An impressive debut showing by No.1 draft pick Harley Reid, a positive second half by sub Campbell Chesser and a hard-fought effort in the ruck from Bailey Williams were among the positives from the season-opener.
Midfield bull Elliot Yeo also came through unscathed in a positive step forward.
Callum Jamieson started in defence and partnered with Williams in the ruck and helped West Coast compete around stoppages, which the Power edged 35-30.
“Bailey’s probably one of the youngest rucks in the comp and hasn’t done a lot of ruck work in the pre-season, so I thought he competed well,” Simpson said.
“Jamieson rucking and playing back is something we’ve tried in the last few weeks that worked pretty well today as well.
“That combination, whilst we’d love to have (Matt) Flynn available he won’t be for a few weeks.
“I thought the mids handled the stoppages reasonably well – Port are excellent in that area – so to do that and Bailey to improve off last week, which he needed to, was pleasing.”
Reid started on fire with eight touches in the opening quarter before finishing with 16 disposals and five clearances in front of a huge contingent of family and friends from Tongala.
“I’m just glad he got through. It’s a lot of attention on Harley throughout pre-season – he’s probably used to it – but I think he’s at home when he’s on the ground and playing footy,” Simpson said.
“I think the midfield group is actually building quite nicely with Elliot back now at pretty much full strength, with Tim Kelly and (Liam) Duggan and Reuben (Ginbey). There’s some positive signs there.”
The WAFL Eagles emerged victorious over Perth in a practice match on Sunday and both teams appear to have come through unscathed, provided Jeremy McGovern pulls up well from a heavy bump before quarter-time.
West Coast hosts Greater Western Sydney in the club’s first home game in round two at Optus Stadium on Sunday.
