Revered forward Josh Kennedy said West Coast are hungry to improve ahead of a Saturday’s clash with Adelaide and are focussing on a week-by-week build.
Despite succumbing to several heavy losses across the season, including being overrun by 101 points to the Western Bulldogs on Saturday night at Optus Stadium, Kennedy assures the Eagles’ effort is there amid a number of unprecedented challenges.
West Coast will continue place emphasis on team connection ahead of their next battle with the Crows and understand remaining united is the most important aspect.
“Being able to get it inside 50 and have that connection has been a little bit difficult this year,” Kennedy told 6PR.
“Work rate, ebbs and flows in the game these days, you have to have four quarters of work rate, if you don’t you can get pierced pretty quick.
“We’re still building, guys are putting in the effort every week to get better and that’s all we can ask.
“It’s just about not losing faith in being able to get the best out of yourselves and a lot of players have really been driving and putting that effort in every week to get better.
“Each match we go into, trying to win and we want to make sure we sustain that effort over four quarters to give ourselves every chance.
“We keep working hard in this period, it does play dividends down the track.”
West Coast have used 43 players this season, including 13 debutants, and will continue to dig deep as they develop a number of exciting youngsters.
While midfield bull Elliot Yeo understands the baptism by fire provides these players with invaluable experience, he concedes fit and healthy senior players to guide this contingent would not go astray.
“You’ve kind of got to be realistic on where we’re at, we’re getting a lot of experience into a lot of players that haven’t had that,” Yeo told 96FM.
“They’re getting exposed which can be frustrating and they don’t have that protection of senior players around them.
“It’s not an ideal spot that we want to be in, but we don’t go out there to lose games of football and we’re trying to rectify it as quick as possible.
“We’ve kind of got to look past individual performances, and you’ve got to look at the team perspective.
“I think at some point you do have to acknowledge that individuals are playing great games of football, but that’s not going to win you games of footy in the end.”
Battling his own injuries, Yeo hopes to be fit and available in coming weeks and will watch on as West Coast face the Crows this Saturday at Adelaide Oval.
“Every game is a winnable game, they’ve got a lot of young talented players coming through, and so do we,” Yeo said.
“So, it’s going to be a very good game, a very good contest, and we’re up for the fight.
“I need to build up now, I’ve missed a fair stint, I played half a game and I think things will start to progress from there.
“So, play more minutes, play more game time. If I’m feeling good after this week, then who knows, anything can happen, but I guess we’re rolling into the bye, so it all depends on how I pull up week-to-week.”
