Priddis, who was among West Coast’s best in the 24-point loss, said the side’s intensity had wavered so far this year as a potential finals challenge turned into a bottom four nightmare.
Saturday night’s performance against the premiership favourites was admirable and the hard-working Priddis said there were encouraging signs across the board.
“We showed that we can play with great intensity and put good opposition under good pressure, so we need to be able to apply that every single week,” Priddis said after the match. “I think we’ve wavered from that this season.
“If we can apply that every single week then we’ll be a very good football side, but it’s only one game.
“We’ve won a few games where we’ve shown that sort of intensity, but we’ve wavered from that and we’ve got to be a lot more consistent with our work-rate and the pressure we put on opposition teams.”
Priddis, who finished with 30 possessions (12 contested) and six clearances, said the club’s leaders needed to stand-up and demand the effort displayed against Geelong consistently.
“Obviously with the young guys, that’s probably the most important thing,” he said. “You’ve got to make them realise that to be an AFL footballer you really have to produce that every single week.
“It’s a learning process and it is a mindset. So hopefully we’ll start to drill that into the side that that’s what we’re capable of doing.
“We’re a very tight-knit team and club, so we’ve got our heads down and we’re working on the areas that we need to improve on.”
West Coast made an impressive start against the Cats and, after falling 16 points down late in the third term, drew to within three points in the final quarter.
Priddis said the Eagles' good start was a result of Dean Cox and Nic Naitanui’s work in the ruck, with the home side enjoying a 14-1 advantage in clearances up to quarter time.
“That’s probably where Geelong started to get on top in the second half - they started to get their hands on the footy at clearances,” he said.
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