‘Bunch of mopers’: Eagles under fire as damning vision ‘sums up’ horror show

West Coast’s leadership and standards have come under fire in the fallout from the club’s horror show Gather Round loss to Carlton.

The Eagles put up the worst contested possession numbers ever recorded in last Saturday’s 71-point smashing at the hands of Carlton at Adelaide Oval as Andrew McQualter’s side fell to 0-4.

One piece of vision “symbolic” of its struggles, according to Melbourne legend Garry Lyon.

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In the first quarter of the match, Liam Ryan ran the ball from the wing inside 50 and kicked to Jake Waterman in a two-on-one contest. Ryan then followed up to support the outnumbered Waterman with repeated efforts and eventually forced a ball.

Waterman then walked back to position as Jamie Cripps and Jack Graham lifted Ryan off the ground in scenes Lyon took issue with.

“This one bit of vision for me summed up where they’re at a s a footy club. Look at Liam Ryan here, this is early in the first quarter. I’m going: ‘Jeez, that’s good effort’,” the ex-Demons skipper said on Fox Footy’s AFL 360.

“What’s Jake Waterman do? He gets angry at himself, turns his back on Liam Ryan and starts walking away. A missed opportunity. I love Jake Waterman, but this is what happens. You go inside yourself when you team is as bad as that.

“The simple message I would think for them is invest in your teammates, don’t abandon them. You’re going to struggle anyway so you may do it together.

“So Jake Waterman turning his back on Jake Waterman is symbolic of the footy club.

“Don’t turn your back on him, get over, knock two Carlton blokes out the road and pick your man up and tell him how great an effort it was … invest in your mate, forget about you, go and get him.”

Fellow AFL 360 Gerard Whateley co-host went so far to call the Eagles “a bunch of mopers” at the moment.

“They mope on the field; they mope off the field. For the club that they are supposed to be, and the club that they have been, it’s an indictment on them,” he said.

“April is too big to have a woe is me complex. Get to it.”

It came after Brownlow medallist Gerard Healy told foxfooty.com.au last week the Eagles should receive priority pick assistance from the AFL amid their struggles.

The Eagles made a selection statement ahead of Saturday’s clash with Carlton by dropping best and fairest winner Tim Kelly.

But watching the game former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley was left questioning their “on-field leadership and standards”.

“In the end the buck stops with the leaders,” Buckley told Fox Footy’s On the Couch.

“Oscar Allen, take the off-field stuff aside, is not performing on field. He’s not getting to as many contests, not putting his body on the line and not doing his job to the best of his capacity.

“Liam Duggan is another — he’s a shadow of himself. It needs to start with contest and expectations on the ground.”

While Buckley said it’s a “challenge” for McQualter as the coach, the Magpies great said the “leaders” also carry a lot of responsibility.

“Contrary to what people believe externally, the senior coach isn’t walking in the locker room all the time making sure it’s clean or masking sure the standards are right, that’s on the leaders.

“The locker room environment breeds a lot of poor habits or good habits. At the moment I can imagine the Richmond boys (Jack Graham and Liam Baker) would’ve walked in and gone: ‘Wow, is this the way it is?’

“Maybe that embarrasses the guys that have been leading for the three or four years leading in. Well man up, you’ve got to get it ond and lift your standards.”

Triple premiership Lion Jonathan Brown suggested “on-field stuff bleeds onto the field”.

“This is a very close industry, we know players who have left that club and players that have gone into that club the last few years,” he said.

“The standards are not where other clubs are, certainly not g top eight contending clubs.”