AS A statement of intent, the words West Coast coach John Worsfold chose following the Eagles’ round-three loss to North Melbourne were powerful.
“We are not playing this game to finish eighth. We’re playing it to build a team that is good enough to win a premiership. You hear some other teams that are probably two or three years ahead of us in development saying they are aiming to win a flag in 2013 or 2014.
“We’re not prepared to wait that long. We want to get up there quicker,” said Worsfold, who captained the club to flags in 1992 and 1994 and coached its third premiership win in 2006.
The club is striving to become the first team to win four premierships since the competition expanded nationally in 1987.“We are not playing this game to finish eighth. We’re playing it to build a team that is good enough to win a premiership. You hear some other teams that are probably two or three years ahead of us in development saying they are aiming to win a flag in 2013 or 2014.
“We’re not prepared to wait that long. We want to get up there quicker,” said Worsfold, who captained the club to flags in 1992 and 1994 and coached its third premiership win in 2006.
After last week’s loss to the Sydney Swans, where the performance was, as Worsfold said, “well below what we would expect”, such ambitions would be easy to question.
The media has been hard at it, querying decisions to leave premiership forward Quinten Lynch out of the team since round one. Other commentators wonder why Mark Le Cras does not spend more time in the midfield, particularly when the delivery inside 50 has floundered at times. Ashley Hansen has been in, then out.
Outsiders suddenly badged a board meeting already scheduled for this week, one that had the regular briefing from the coach on the agenda, as a crisis meeting. It was not that, but Eagles chairman Mark Barnaba admitted it had come at an opportune time.
“This has been a disappointing start,” he told The West Australian. “We always knew it was going to be a several-year plan to get from where we were last year to where we want to be, but we thought we would probably be ahead of 1-4, that’s for sure.”
That is the lot of the rebuilding team that puts in one uncompetitive performance, even against tough opposition as the Swans are proving to be in 2010. The pressure rises. Doubters come from everywhere. It is one of the tests that always face clubs striving to regenerate. If expectations are not met, emotion threatens to become more of a factor in decision-making.
At such times, insiders must maintain their faith and hold their nerve because, in a sense, although outside voices might become more strident, nothing changes. Questions are fine. Doubts are unhelpful. A forensic internal assessment of last week’s performance will provide important lessons and then, as ever, improvement will come only with hard work, the application of coaching intellect, discipline, teamwork and cohesion.
Worsfold’s public comment during the week shows he knows how to keep his focus: “I’m feeling under pressure because we want to win more and our supporters want wins, but in terms of where the club and team are heading, I’m very confident in it. That doesn’t create pressure.”
Read the full story in the round six edition of the AFL Record, available at all grounds.
