A clearly frustrated Adam Simpson says “nothing good” came out of West Coast’s 61-point hammering at the hands of Hawthorn and wants the finger pointed at the collective starting with himself.
The Eagles were well beaten across all areas of the ground by a ruthless Hawks outfit in front of their home fans, going down 14.10 (94) to 3.9 (33) at Optus Stadium on Sunday, 30 June 2024.
It was their second biggest loss for the season at their home ground, but came when they had arguably the best side on paper they’d put out in recent years.
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Simpson said he couldn’t find any positives out of the match, having been competitive for most of the season.
“It was disappointing in every facet from the start to the finish,” Simpson said.
“The Hawks were really good, they transitioned better than us, cleaner, beaten in the midfield, we couldn’t get out of our back half and we couldn’t convert at the other end.
“Everything we tried didn’t work, the things we’ve been chasing from the start of the year, the little things were not there and until we get consistent at those things, we’re going to struggle.
“We’re disappointed. On paper the team looked pretty good, but we got taught a lesson in work-rate today.”
Simpson said outside of star midfielder Elliot Yeo – who lost his father earlier in the week – there was “no excuses”.
“We’re owning this game … we were beaten in every area and the first part we need to work on is what we’ve been trying to work on since pre-season which is around the contest,” he said.
Asked about several players’ performances, Simpson said it was about the entire group including himself who were to blame.
“It’s about the collective’s responsibility on that,” he said.
“You can point the finger at a lot of players today, I’d rather you just point it as a collective and it starts with me and finishes with the players.”
The loss was compounded by several injuries including ruckman Matt Flynn who was subbed out of the game during the third quarter with an ankle injury.
Defender Jeremy McGovern also sat on the bench for the last part of the game after appearing to hurt his thumb in a marking contest.
McGovern and Tom Barrass held up their end of the bargain in defence, with Simpson praising them for their performance under the incredible weight of the Hawthorn attack.
“You just feel for them a bit, don’t you? That they had to deal with so much supply,” Simpson said.
“I mean early on I think we sort of panicked a little bit with the ball with the intercepts and then once that settled, those two – they’ve saved us a lot of scores against.
“We just can’t rely on those two players. As much as we love them, we’d like the full team to put in an even effort.”