West Coast Midfielder Reuben Ginbey has acknowledged the Eagles will need to pick up their performance on the road as they look to become a more competitive side.
Over the weekend West Coast made the trip to Adelaide where Adelaide comprehensively beat them to the tune of 99 points.
Adelaide came out firing during the first quarter, stunning the visitors and putting 46 points on the board, making it impossible for West Coast to bounce back.
This takes their average losing margin away from Optus Stadium to 59 points, with their smallest margin being 26 points against Sydney during Gather Round.
“The energy was just low from the start of the game. We shot ourselves in the foot,” Ginbey told SportFM.
“We were down by 50 at quarter time, then you have to chase them back and you can’t win a game from 50 points behind in the first quarter.
“We have been focusing on those starts. Home we’ve been really good, but again, away we haven’t been able to do it.
“We play away every second week, so it’s definitely something, if we want to become a more competitive side, we’ve got to learn how to win on the road.”
West Coast slumped defensively as a whole, with defenders Tom Barrass and Jeremy McGovern shouldering a lot of the load down back. The pair combined for 14 marks and 11 intercepts down back.
The Crows also ran away with significantly more uncontested possessions, finishing with 269 to 145, indicating a lack of pressure on the ball carriers.
Ginbey says West Coast does work on its defensive pressure, but admits it is still a work in progress.
“On the weekend we just couldn’t stop their ball movement,” he said.
“We’re still working through our team defence, which is something that, with a younger group of players, we’ve been able to do a bit better for offence. Our team defence still needs a little bit of work.
“But with boys like Gov and Tom Barrass saving the day for us, a lot of the time they do help out as well. But their ball movement, was a bit too good for us this week.”
With two weeks until the bye, the Eagles return to Optus Stadium to play St Kilda and North Melbourne over the next fortnight
Ginbey says the time spent at home can be used to reflect on and address the on-road woes.
As a collective, that was probably our worst game of the year, so we’re definitely looking and focusing on our preparation for this week,” he said.
“We do know on the road form had been really bad, but I think this week we didn’t produce the performance we wanted as well.
“Luckily we have two home games over the next two weeks against Saints and North, and we’re excited for those two and then the bye.
“We probably don’t play a game on the road for about a month, so we do have a long time to get fit, chat about and work out what we can do away.”
IMAGE: Getty Images