Premiership Eagle Will Schofeld believes West Coast got ahead of itself before its record loss to Sydney on the weekend, declaring massive triple-figure defeats should be “behind this group”.
The Eagles on Saturday night were humiliated by the Swans, suffering a 128-point loss – the fifth biggest loss in club history and their biggest ever at Optus Stadium.
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It was the first time West Coast had suffered a triple-figure defeat since their horrendous 2023 campaign, which saw them lose five games by 100 points or more.
The Swans result came after consecutive stirring victories over North Melbourne and Port Adelaide in Rounds 2 and 3 respectively.
Speaking on Fox Sports News’ AFL Tonight, Schofield accused the Eagles of jumping the gun before a “putrid” and “absolutely terrible” loss.
“The margin is everything. You start talking again where this footy club has been the last few years, I thought the 128-point losses were behind this group,” Schofield told AFL Tonight.
Swans crush Eagles by 128 points | 02:53
“Certainly internally with some of the voices coming out from the playing group, from coaches, from admin staff at the club that after a couple of weeks of wins, I think (there was) a little bit of head wobble going on. ‘Look at us, we’ve won a couple of games, we’ve finally turned the corner and now we’re a legitimate football club.’
“Well, a 130-point loss says differently and I don’t think it’s acceptable anymore for this group.
“Yes, they’ve got young players, yes they’re a rebuilding team, we know that. But that doesn’t mean you can put out a 130-point loss and say ‘that’s OK’. I’ll continue to call that out. I don’t think it’s acceptable from the West Coast Eagles.
“I think internally, even though the messaging’s been different externally, they’d have to be going very hard at the players. You’d hope so, at least, because padding around a performance like this and saying ‘oh, we did this well and we did that well’, I’d be disappointed if that’s the messaging internally at West Coast, because it simply wasn’t good enough.
A significant talking point to emerge from the Eagles’ loss was the attention Harley Reid copped from Swans on-baller James Jordon.
While Schofield said Reid’s ability to deal with taggers would improve with a better fitness base and workrate, he urged Eagles players to better support their star young midfielder.
“On the day, it felt like there was a bit of discipline (issues). But reflecting back, I actually don’t think it’s a discipline thing and I don’t think that is the big issue with Harley Reid – if he has one. He is still young, he’s still developing and he’s still learning,” Schofield said.
“The biggest ones for Harley for me is his fitness – he looks a lot fitter than last year, but I think that needs to go to another level again – and his workrate. If you’re working on things with Harley, they’re the two for me.
“I watched him walk from stoppage on multiple occasions, his second and third efforts just weren’t there. That is an issue that you can fix.
“I think the discipline stuff, I think it’s a bit of a beat up, if I’m honest. And I was involved with it (on the night), but on reflection, I think that’s where it’s at.
“And then his teammates need to find a way to help him succeed. He is their best player, he is their superstar – and superstars around the competition are protected by their teammates.
“Nick Daicos, you don’t have to look too much further than him. At Collingwood, they find a way to give him a footy, which is the best way to get him into the game, and they protect him as well.
“I’d like to see more of that at West Coast from his teammates.”
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