Last year’s grand finalists West Coast cannot win the premiership this season and have some serious issues when it comes to the midfield, says David Schwarz.
An unexpected 19-point defeat to Collingwood continued their miserable run of form outside of Perth and left them in the eyes of many pretenders.
The loss has them now at 12-6 and on the same number of points as eighth-placed North Melbourne.
“They’re just making up the numbers West Coast – they’ve been beaten in every area that counts, they’re just going through the motions,” said Schwarz on SEN radio.
“On the effort ladder they are down the bottom because they’ve got one of the best forward lines in the business.
“They’ve got a worse record here (at the MCG) than Melbourne do at Etihad.
“It looked like eleventh versus twelfth, they’re making up the numbers now.”
Scott Lucas was equally as scathing on the Eagles claiming they would not be playing finals this year if not for their big home ground advantage.
“I’d say Priddis aside they don’t have a midfield, that’s how bad their mids are – Shuey hmm, Masten doesn’t touch it,” said Lucas.
“Where’s their depth? The biggest player out for them, you just don’t realise how big Naitanui is for them.
“It’s hit-outs to advantage, they should be massaging his achilles nightly those midfielders because without him they can’t touch it.”
A prime target in the conversation was Luke Shuey who collected 28 disposals in the loss to the Magpies, of which only two were contested.
“Shuey doesn’t play the brand of footy of an elite player,” said Schwarz.
“I’m probably being a little bit disrespectful to him but when you’ve got to roll the sleeves up and do a Steele Sidebottom he would prefer to go out than in.
“Some players don’t like body contact and Shuey is one of them, he is not a player that likes to be physically intimidated.”