The WAFL Eagles were bested by East Perth on Sunday at Leederville Oval, falling by 74-points in the 6.5 (41) v 18.7 (115) defeat.

Despite the final margin, coach Kyal Horsely still took some positives out of the team’s performance.

“While it was a disappointing result on the weekend, I thought the players really came to play and we started well,” Horsley said.

“We matched East Perth in the first quarter, which has been a real weapon of theirs.

“We lost our way a little bit at the end of the second, and then in the third quarter, they were just tougher than us, which the players have owned and reflected on, and I’m sure we will get a strong response from them next week.”

Top Three

Harry Edwards

“Harry was our best for the day. He came back with some good form after playing well the week before at AFL level and really took that into this game. He defended exceptionally well, rarely go beaten in a one on one and saved the day for us a lot and gave us good drive in offense.”

Clay Hall

“Clay’s best game of the year. He competed really hard, we gave him a job in the second half and he did it really well. It was a really big step forward for Clay and look forward to launching off this performance.”

Harley Sparks

“Strong game from Harley, he was actually playing against his old team which can be a bit overwhelming, but he handled it really well. He was fierce with the contest inside and finished with 11 clearances and worked really hard for his team all day.

AFL Listed Players

Andrew Gaff

“Strong game from ‘Gaffy’, work rate extremely high, he was running at high level and tried his hardest to keep us in the game and communicate with his younger teammates, he led well.”

Jai Culley

“Another good step forward for Jai. Played inside mid predominantly for the first time since his serious injury, he brought that presence and hard tackling and contested ball winning ability, and then got forward and showed his point of difference when taking a really nice contested mark and getting a goal for us. I can see Jai building off this and returning to his best footy which is really pleasing. No one puts in more work.

Archer Reid

“Tough day as a key forward with lack of supply. He did show glimpses in the air and  his team defence was really sharp which is good to see from a young man. He got a few hitouts in the ruck and competed really hard when he went in which is the growth in his game, coming back from a long-term injury, so a really pleasing step forward.”

Jamaine Jones

“Strong game from ‘JJ’ defensively. He worked as hard as he could with the supply coming in, he was communicating well with his teammates and trying to help, which probably took away a little bit of his offensive drive, but really pleased with his game.”

Loch Rawlinson

“Tough day in that half-forward roll. To Loch’s credit, he just kept running his patterns and kept working hard for the team the whole day. He deserved to get more possessions than what he did, but we really appreciate the roll he plays and how hard he works for the collective.”

Tyrell Dewar

“Strong game from Tyrell. I thought he really dialled in his team defence, and on the back of that, got a lot of looks offensively, so really happy for him to get some reward for working so hard on his team D. I think he had five shots on goal, only kicked one, but it was built on the back of his effort in team defence.”

Jordyn Baker

“Tough day for ‘Bakes’ with the supply coming in. I thought he defended really well for long periods, but we were really under the pump with East Perth’s avalanche of inside 50s.”

Coen Livingstone

“Really good game from Coen, he led the ruck by himself. He got some small chopouts from Archer (Reid), but he was the man for the day, his best performance. He competed really hard in the ruck contest and his follow up was a highlight and he ended up with seven clearances so I’m proud of his performance.”

Coby Burgiel

“Coby’s first time playing on the wing for us, he worked really hard during the week on learning the patterns and the structures and complied really well. You could see him working out within game, and I know from here, now that he’s had a taste and worked out the running patterns, you’ll start to see him really step of that and give us drive from the wing.”