West Coast midfielder Jack Graham insists his side needs to learn to win after its season came to a disappointing end against Sydney last Saturday night.
First-year coach Andrew McQualter’s first season at the club hadn’t gone to plan, after finishing with the club’s third wooden spoon and just one win against St Kilda in Round 9.
The Eagles now sit on 11 wins from the past four seasons, and have reached a low not seen since Fitzroy’s final year in 1996.
Upon reflection of his first year at the club, Graham says it has been tough.
“You play footy to win and compete. It’s hard when you’re not winning. Everyone loves winning, no one likes losing, and where we are at the moment, we’re just not good enough.
Even on the weekend, another great half of football, we’re in the fight, and then just a disappointing way to finish the year and our second half let us down again.
“So we’ll get to work, but we’ve got to be a club that learns to win.”
West Coast, on several occasions, came so close to bagging more four-points, but composure and getting the little things right at the end cost them dearly.
And when the Eagles were on, they looked competitive, but the gap between their best and worst football could not be wider.
Saturday night’s game against Sydney was a clear example of this, where West Coast dominated the contest during the first half, but drastically fell away during the second half, conceding 83 points to their opponents.
Graham says their failure to hold on comes down to a lack of confidence, which he hopes they can improve on.
“It’s a little bit of confidence, continuing to be brave with the ball, who cares if we make mistakes, but let’s just keep playing the way that we want to play,” he said.
“We know sides are going to react and other sides are more experienced than us, so they can come out and throw a few punches and weather the storm. That’s what we’ve got to get better at.
“When the other team gets momentum going, we’ve got to learn to weather it and then get back to playing our brand and challenging back at it.
“You can’t just be playing a quarter or a half of good footy these days, you need a four quarter performance.”
Although West Coast’s season had more lows, there were still some highs as young players got more exposure to playing at the top level and showed promising signs.
In addition, Eagles fans rejoiced as the club announced young gun Harley Reid recommitted to West Coast until the end of 2028.
Reid’s signing is the cherry on top of a series of contract extension announcements from young players, including Jobe Shanahan, Bo Allan and Rhett Bazzo, who signed on last week.
Graham is confident West Coast can turn its fortune around in 2026.
“The younger players that we’ve got and have had a year of playing the system and the brand that we want to play. It does stack up, but we’ve just got to do it for longer,” he said.
“It’s going to be a busy trade period and with the draft and getting those high talent players in, but then also I think we might try get a few through the trade. Things can change pretty quickly, I reckon.
“Now we’ve had a year of the system. The boys can really knuckle down, practice it again, more reps in the off-season and pre-season, and it will hold us in good stead. I’m really excited for the next year.”
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