WEST Coast will look at its method after a horror fortnight on the field, with coach Adam Simpson declaring it was hard to get an accurate read on the team's style of play when workrate was poor.
The coach declared the players and coaches were in it together after heavy losses to the Western Bulldogs and Sydney that have left the Eagles (8-7) three wins adrift of the top four and in seventh spot.
They have been hit with more injuries as well, with midfielder Jack Redden (knee) and half-forward Jamaine Jones (ankle syndesmosis) both to miss several weeks, and more forced changes likely for Monday night's clash against North Melbourne at Optus Stadium.
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Midfielder Andrew Gaff, who will train on Thursday, also needs to prove his fitness after he was a late withdrawal against the Swans at GMHBA Stadium with a thumb injury.
Simpson said workrate and effort were the team's biggest issues in the past fortnight, but the group would also have "a pretty honest conversation" about the game plan.
"If the effort and workrate isn’t there, then it’s hard to execute your method," the coach said.
"But we’ve still got to look at the method as well. We’re always doing that. We have a pretty honest conversation about that. It’s hard to judge, and after the Richmond game it looked OK.
"We’ll look at it without jumping the gun too much. We need to perform at a more consistent level to really judge our style of play."
Simpson said the players, coaches and staff needed to own the position the team had found itself in after two poor losses and not "point fingers or blame people".
Asked where the coaching group needed to improve, he said: "We need to back our players in, we need to be resilient, and we need to be tough and hard on the players. We’re all in it together, that’s the message, the whole club.
"I’m at the top of the tree, so it’s for me to work through. But we’re all in this together.
"Talk doesn't really count in these situations. You need to go out and perform and do it through your actions.
"So judge us on Monday night and hopefully we are a bit better than we were on the weekend."
With Redden and Jones confirmed omissions, Simpson said there were a couple of other players who would be touch and go for the Kangaroos clash.
"We’ve got a couple of sore guys. That seems to be the case for us a little bit," he said.
"It’s not two or three, it’s four or five changes we’re making, and I think we’ve made 11 or 10 changes in two weeks. We don’t normally do that.
"We’ve got our eye on that, but there’ll be a couple of outs I’m assuming."
