That's the story of 2008 for the West Coast Eagles, as they sit in a very unfamiliar position in the split round, looking up the ladder – at 14 opponents – rather than down it.

A quick look at the ins-and-outs for the team over the last couple of months shows an enormous turnover, with up to seven changes being made in any given week due to injury and form.

The old football adage says that three changes a week is about the maximum a side can accommodate to keep winning. It's a generalisation, but it's close to truth for West Coast this season – less than two years after winning its third flag.

West Coast assistant coach Peter Sumich said that imbalance and inconsistency in too many areas had been a major cause of the side's fall from grace, something the bye-week review threw into stark relief.

"Probably just the imbalance of our side, the changes we've made consistently," he said. "We haven't really made one or two changes a week, it's been three-to-six, and that's probably the biggest thing that's come out of it.

"We need to stabilise that, and we're in the process of doing that, but that's probably been the most unsettling thing with the match committee and the player group."

But stabilisation is hard to achieve when injuries combine with form and confidence slumps, and it's difficult for the younger players who are moving in and out of the side.

"You've probably just got to bear with it over a period, and that period for us has been probably six to eight weeks where we've had those massive changes each week – I think seven was our max. that's nearly a third of the team," he said.

"You can't do much about it other than let it happen, and try and get the players back consistently.

"You're finding some younger players, and seeing if they can play as well, in the process, but once your senior players come back from injury, you're trying to get them in."