WEST Coast won't turnaround its poor recent record away from Domain Stadium until the Eagles can stand up and compete for four quarters, coach Adam Simpson says.
The Eagles suffered another demoralising loss on the road on Saturday, this time by 44 points to a resurgent Geelong outfit.
It continued a nightmare start for Simpson's men away from Perth, with beltings from Hawthorn (46 points), the Sydney Swans (39) and the Cats overshadowing a perfect record at home.
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Geelong's onballers were the difference at Simonds Stadium, with stars Joel Selwood and Patrick Dangerfield, Josh Caddy, Mitch Duncan and Cam Guthrie dominating their Eagles counterparts.
West Coast was smashed at the clearances (45-31) and, despite winning the contested ball by two possessions, rarely looked capable of notching a first win interstate since round 16 last year.
"There's a few patterns there, away (from home) we're not getting the results we want," Simpson said.
"But around the contest it's fair to say the teams we've played have been a bit bigger and stronger and we haven't matched them around the ball.
Five talking points: Geelong v West Coast
"We just coughed the ball up too much and even when we got out (into space) we probably had some basic turnovers.
"You just can't do that against the three teams we've lost to this year, they're quality top-four sides."
Simpson is bracing himself for another tough week of interrogation from the media after watching his side succumb to Geelong in a terrible second quarter.
West Coast held a hard-fought three-point advantage at the first change, but were bystanders as the Cats slammed on seven goals to one to put the result almost beyond doubt.
WATCH: Adam Simpson's full media conference
"We've just got to keep chipping away (at improving away from home). I'm going to cop a lot of questions this week and so be it," Simpson said.
"That's the outside, internally we've got to keep doing the basic things well because we do them well every second week at the moment.
"We can't hide away from it. We've got to address the fact that we haven't really come close in the three games.
"We think we've got a style of play that will stand up anywhere.
"So the disappointing thing for us is we're not playing at our best.
"Winning and losing happens, but to stay in the moment for four quarters is our challenge every week, but we seem to do it better at home."
Simpson was proud of his troops for fighting back with a thrilling five-goal blitz inside seven minutes midway through the third quarter, but they couldn't sustain the effort and West Coast lost the inside 50 count 60-43.
"It was pretty basic (why we got back into it). We started winning stoppages and the contest and we got the ball in our half and we were able to convert," Simpson said.
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Five in a row for the @WestCoastEagles! This goal from Darling earlier was the pick of the bunch. #AFLCatsEagles https://t.co/G0LHr2bbJj
— AFL (@AFL) May 7, 2016
"Our defence and how we defend on away games – today we conceded over 100 points but the other two games we didn't – (isn't the problem), it's our supply."
After declaring the Eagles would be patient with out-of-form recruit Lewis Jetta, Simpson stopped short of declaring the ex-Swan would be dropped to the WAFL after gathering just nine touches against Geelong.
"He was quiet today. We tried him at half-back, so we've got to look at that this week and try and get him into some form," he said.
"We're still patient with him, but there's some things we need to work on.
"Not only with Jetts but there's four or five players who have been inconsistent this year."