Senior coach Andrew McQualter took encouragement from key areas of West Coast’s performance despite a 56-point margin in Sunday’s Western Derby loss to Fremantle.

While the Dockers’ efficiency inside forward 50 ultimately proved decisive, McQualter said his young side showed growth in several important areas against a well‑organised and experienced opponent.

“It was an interesting game,” McQualter said.

“I know the scoreboard doesn’t reflect it, but I was reasonably pleased with the way we played today against a pretty strong side, they know what they’re doing.

“We were able to beat them in entry and beat them in contest, which were big focus areas for us going in.”

West Coast finished with 51 inside‑50s to the Dockers’ 50 but were unable to capitalise fully on their opportunities, something McQualter acknowledged would remain a work in progress.

“We were just clearly really inefficient going forward today, and they were incredibly efficient in their front half, which they are consistently,” McQualter said.

“They’ve got some really good players there, so there were areas of the game I was quite pleased with, but we’ve got some work to do as well.”

Despite the challenges on the scoreboard, McQualter said West Coast’s scoring efficiency had been an area of relative strength throughout the season, with the Derby an outlier against that trend.

“Our scoring efficiency has been pretty good in our front half of this year,” McQualter said.

“Today it wasn’t there. It's going to be hard to compete particularly when you're not accurate, that hurt us a little bit early.”

McQualter also pointed to the development stage of the Eagles’ forward line, stressing the importance of continued support for the club’s young key-position players.

“We understand we’ve got really young keys in our forward line, so we’ve got to keep supporting them with the way the ball’s coming in as much as possible,” McQualter said.

Defensively, McQualter praised the performance of Reuben Ginbey, who was tasked with a significant role against Fremantle’s spearhead Josh Treacy.

Fighting outside his weight division, Ginbey finished with 14 disposals, seven marks and seven intercept possessions, while keeping Treacy to three marks and a goal in another stellar effort against a star opposition forward.

“I thought Reuben Ginbey was extraordinary today,” McQualter said.

“I rate Josh Treacy as one of the best key forwards in the game and I think Reuben kept him to three marks.

“He’s got an enormous work rate, an enormous contest, and we’re just so lucky to have him in our team, the way he competes.”

While acknowledging some challenges behind the ball, McQualter said turnovers in dangerous positions made things difficult at times.

“They got some pretty good looks, and some of our turnovers hurt us,” McQualter said.

“It would have been tough to be back there today at times, but we’ve got to keep finding ways to compete and make sure teams don’t score efficiently when they go inside 50.”

Despite the outcome, McQualter said the Eagles remained focused on their execution and the work still ahead.

“Clearly it hurt us at times,” McQualter said.

“We’re working really hard on our fundamentals, it's going to bob up every now and then and it happens.

“We just got to be able to have make sure our system is strong enough.”