West Coast's 2026 AFLW campaign hasn't started the way the Eagles hoped, following a 12-point defeat to Greater Western Sydney on the road in round one.
The Giants, who finished 17th last year with just two wins, broke open a close game at Engie Stadium, with three successive goals in four minutes in the third quarter.
West Coast kicked the last three goals of the game on Sunday but GWS hung on to register an 8.6 (54) to 6.6 (42) win, its first in four attempts at the venue.
Rebecca Beeson kicked two opportunistic efforts and forward Tarni Evans booted her third goal of the game to set up a 17-point lead at three-quarter time.
The veteran midfielder bagged her third major early in the last quarter and Mikayla Pauga blew the margin out to 29 points when her kick for goal took a favourable bounce.
Keeley Skepper and Isabella Shannon kicked goals to reduce the margin to 17 with just over nine minutes left and Charlotte Thomas added another with just over a minute remaining.
Beeson had never kicked more than one goal In a match in her previous 73 AFLW games.
Evans booted three goals in a game for the fourth time.
West Coast had 15 more inside 50s but left its run too late.
The first half was a tight, low-scoring affair, with Evans kicking a goal from a set shot and the Eagles' Amy Franklin responding in kind.
A Georgia Garnett snap regained the lead for GWS, but Kellie Gibson prodded the ball over from a couple of metres out right on quarter-time to give West Coast a three-point lead.
An Evans snap provided the only goal of the second quarter, with GWS leading by four at half-time.
The lead changed hands again when Eagles star Ella Roberts took a mark and wheeled around and kicked a booming snap, but Beeson replied almost immediately and the Giants took control.
Eagles co-captains Bella Lewis (28) and Thomas (25) were the leading possession getters, with Lewis notching a career-high tally.
GWS star Alyce Parker tallied 23 touches and won a match-high 10 clearances.
The Eagles return home to host Gold Coast in round two next Saturday at Mineral Resources Park.
GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY 2.1Â Â Â Â 3.3Â Â Â Â 6.5Â Â Â Â 8.6 (54)
WEST COASTÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 2.4Â Â Â Â 2.5Â Â Â Â 3.6Â Â Â Â 6.6 (42)
GOALS
Greater Western Sydney: Evans 3, Beeson 3, Garnett, Pauga
West Coast: Franklin, Gibson, Roberts, Skepper, Shannon, Thomas
BESTÂ
Greater Western Sydney: Evans, Parker, Beeson, Lucas-Rodd, O'Dowd, McCormick
West Coast: Lewis, Thomas, Skepper, L.Wakfer, Britton, Bushby
INJURIES
Greater Western Sydney: Nil
West Coast: Nil
Reports:Â Nil
Crowd:Â TBC at Engie Stadium
