After a strong performance against Adelaide a fortnight ago and a 32-point win over Essendon last week, the Eagles burst out to a 26-point half-time lead against Carlton and were on track for consecutive wins for the second time this season.
However, the Blues’ midfield took control of the game in the third term and kicked 11 of the last 14 goals to inflict a 26-point loss on the home side.
Ebert said the young Eagles could not match the likes of Chris Judd, Marc Murphy and Kade Simpson in the second half, but they would bounce back ahead of next Sunday’s cross-town clash.
“We’re pretty down, we’ve got to take a few things out of that game and obviously move on from here,” Ebert said after the match.
“We’ve got the derby next week, so we’ll have to work hard this week and hopefully get a win.
“We’ll work on the positives and keep everyone up and about (and) try and keep the momentum going.”
West Coast worked hard to build a midfield advantage in the first half, with Shaun Grigg the only Carlton player having an impact in the centre.
However, Judd, Murphy and Simpson erupted in a dominant third quarter to give the Blues a 23-6 advantage in inside 50s for the term.
“That third quarter was probably the killer and we’ll have to learn from that,” Ebert said. “They just raised their intensity and we weren’t able to match them.
“They started to fire with Murphy and those sorts of guys and worked us over a little bit. They’re a pretty well run unit.”
Ebert, who spent time opposed to both Murphy and Simpson, booted two first-half goals on Saturday night and was among the Eagles’ best with 23 disposals.
He said missed shots on goal after half-time cost his side the chance to work back into the game.
“We had a couple of opportunities, which we should have converted in that last quarter, and that could have chipped that lead away a little bit," he said.
“(But) once it sort of swung it just kept rolling.”
