WEST Coast wingman Chris Masten believes ramping up the physicality at training and risking injury will be worth it to lift the Eagles out of their rut.
After consecutive hammerings from Port Adelaide and Geelong, the reigning premiers are under the microscope ahead of a home clash with Gold Coast.
The Eagles have been beaten up around the ball this season, and are -83 in contested possessions in their three losses to Brisbane, the Power and Cats.
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Some have questioned West Coast's hunger, and while Masten conceded the Eagles had to toughen up he dismissed talk of a premiership hangover.
"I'm not buying into any of that," Masten told AFL.com.au.
"Footy's footy. You have your ups and downs. We've had a couple of down weeks and we're not liking it, but I'm not buying into any hangover.
When you're in a rut you do lose a bit of confidence, but we just need to get a few hits at training, smack a few boys in the mouth, maybe cop a few corkies and get us going.
"We're just not doing it on game day at the moment.
"We haven't (been extra physical at training) for a while. This week is pretty short, which hurts, but I'm sure there will be something.
"Simmo (coach Adam Simpson) won't mind if we cop a corkie."
Alarm bells are ringing everywhere for West Coast, which ranks 18th for inside 50s, 15th for scoring and is struggling to move the ball.
The Eagles have lost 10 of their last 11 quarters, stretching back to quarter-time of a Western Derby in which they were lucky to hang on and win.
There have been calls for big names to be dropped, with forward Jack Darling copping the brunt of the backlash after going scoreless and taking three marks in the past two games.
"It's not on any one player, it's the collective," Masten said.
"When we're good, that's what makes us good because we're collectively good.
"From the outside, people can criticise and call people out, but they're doing their jobs really well a lot of the time.
"We're just not getting the connection between what we're all doing."
Masten said there were long conversations and stern words from Simpson after the shocking 58-point defeat at the Cattery, but faith in the Eagles' playing style hasn't been rocked.
"Our system works; it just doesn't when you don't win the footy," he said.
"The last couple of weeks we've battled in that area. If you're not winning it, it's hard to get anything going.
"We've had a focus the last few weeks on our starts, but they've just been off as well.
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"All we've got to put our effort into is winning the ball, but with balance as well.
"We can't send everyone in and then get done on the outside.
"Big emphasis on that and then probably starting well is hugely important this week."
The Eagles, whose six opponents occupy spots in the top seven on the ladder, could welcome back big-bodied onballer Jack Redden for Saturday night's clash with the Suns.
Redden was held back from the Geelong trip due to Achilles soreness and needs to get through Thursday's session to be available.
West Coast is avoiding training at Optus Stadium this week following concerns about the hardness of the surface.
