'Got a lot of work to do': Eagles coach Andrew McQualter insists he does not want a 'short-term' solution despite nightmare start
Andrew McQualter insists he is not going to let West Coast become a "short-term solutions" club as his players nightmare start to the season continues.
The Eagles are one of two teams in the competition that have yet to record a win in the opening rounds, having yet to break the 80-point mark in their five thrashings.
A horror battle against Carlton marked the third defeat by 71-points or more that the club has recorded in what has been an alarming start to McQualter's tenure this season.
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McQualter fielded a young midfield group that proved to be no match for Carlton's lineup on Saturday, though the group's lack of success was of little concern for the coach.
Rather, the 38-year-old conceded he was more alarmed at the troubling performance statistics his out of form playing group is continuing to produce.
Eagles head coach Andrew McQualter speaks to players. via Getty Images
West Coast lost the contested possession count 136-77 while the clearance count was 40-18 in favour of Carlton.
While McQualter appeared hopeful that his team could manage to turnaround their performance soon, he insisted he would not be looking for short-term solutions.
"I think there's a fine balance between finding short-term solutions versus long-term solutions," he said after his team's 71-point loss to Carlton.
"We could easily close the game down and play slow and wide and protect ourselves by putting numbers behind the ball.
"But I'm not sure that's the right way to teach people how to play and I'm not sure that's a sustainable model to become a winning team.
"We'll continue to work our way through smaller solutions that will help us quickly, but we're not going to become a short-term solution club."
The Eagles look dejected after losing the round five AFL match against Carlton Blues. Getty
McQualter hinted more changes to his lineup could occur in the coming rounds as he will be looking to reward those who are up for the challenge.
"We'll reward the people who are in form, and we'll challenge and help the people who are out of form," McQualter said.
"That's going to be our job at the moment and there are more out of form than in form at our club.
"We're under no illusions where we're at. We've got a lot of work to do and there's only one way to keep doing that work.
"We've got to keep getting better and finding ways to improve our players and our systems.
"You can't go and just buy form, you've got to work really hard in our game to improve."
Oscar Allen of the Eagles leads his team out onto the field against the Carlton Blues. Getty
McQualter confirmed that changes to his team will not excluded the axing of experienced players like Oscar Allen or Liam Duggan.
"Whether it's our captain or anyone, we're really open about everyone is in form or out of form. We'll keep picking the team based on that and the balance of the team," he said.
"We're going to continue to support our players, that's where we're at. We understand the space we're in.
"But there's some pretty flat guys in our room right now, as you'd expect.
"This is AFL footy, it's hard."
