WEST Coast forward Ash Hansen believes part of the solution to his side's on-field woes in 2008 can be found off field.

After falling 33 points shy of Fremantle in Sunday's Western Derby, Hansen said the players had set a number of goals for the remaining four rounds, some of which were not football specific.

"(We're) working on things off field that are going to help us on field with our chemistry and getting to know each other really well," Hansen said on Monday. 

"We've got a few things that we're all really excited about and I suppose that's why we're remaining so positive, because we're looking forward to achieving those."

Hansen said there was plenty his side could achieve in the last month of the season with chemistry being a major focus, however, he wouldn't offer any specific targets the team had set.

"That's for us to know I suppose, because if we don't achieve them we’re probably going to be seen as failures again," he said.

"(But) I think playing with each other more and more we can really generate a good platform to go into next pre season, because we've got a lot of really young players that I haven't played with and a lot of the other guys haven't.

"So I think building that chemistry and really setting standards for us now gives us a great opportunity."

While positive about the next four rounds, Hansen once more rued his side's momentary lapse in competitiveness on Sunday.

This week it occurred late in the first term and, in just 19 minutes, saw Fremantle turn an 11-point deficit into a 31-point quarter-time lead.

The 25-year-old said the answer lies in the midfield but, with such a young group in the engine room, patience was required.

"I think for that (first) quarter our hard ball gets were down, so it's definitely that we're not getting our hands on the footy first," he said.

"That's putting a lot of pressure on our defenders and probably just our pressure on their midfielders went down a little bit. (But) I think that's one area we picked up for the rest of the game and were able to probably draw level with them."

Hansen has found the form he expects of himself in the past month and he was a generous contributor on Sunday with 14 possessions, eight marks and two goals.

But a number of his hard leads went unnoticed against Fremantle as the ball was continually kicked long into a crowded forward 50.

"I'm definitely speaking to [the midfielders] regularly about that (forward delivery) because you want to find a balance," Hansen said.

"When Freo used the ball they really used it well across half forward. Geelong do it really well, they use that short one. It just makes the defence accountable.

"It's a young midfield group, they'll learn that as they feel more comfortable. That's something I've got to be patient with and our midfield are a great group, they're probably just making decisions a bit inconsistently at the moment, but they'll improve."