Eagles in better mindset
WEST Coast coach Adam Simpson feels his team are better placed this year than in 2015 to break their premiership drought.
The Eagles secured a home preliminary final with a hardfought 16- point win over Collingwood in Saturday night’s qualifying final in Perth.
In front of a record 59,585 fans at a sold- out Optus Stadium, West Coast came from 10 points down at three- quarter time to secure the 12.14 ( 86) to 10.10 ( 70) win.
West Coast will now play either Melbourne or Hawthorn in Perth in two weeks’ time for a place in the grand final.
The Eagles made the grand final in 2015 after beating Hawthorn and North Melbourne in home finals.
But they flopped on grand final day, losing to Hawthorn by 46 points at the MCG. West Coast’s squad has far more finals experience now, and Simpson thinks it will hold them in good stead as they attempt to win the club’s first flag since 2006.
“The experience players I thought through ( against wood),” Simpson said.
“We’ve been there before ( in big games), and I’m sure at some stage they would have drawn upon that.
“And we’ve been in the finals for four years now and made a couple of prelims. So I’m hoping the maturity of our players means we’re more ready than we were in 2015.”
West Coast are sweating on the fitness of defender Brad Sheppard, who hurt his hamstring against Collingwood. of our shone Colling-