West Coast coach Adam Simpson says his team has the hunger to contend after two years of self-admitted underperformance.
The Eagles missed out on the top four by percentage before falling to Collingwood in a home Elimination Final.
Simpson broke down what went right and what went wrong across a tumultuous 2020 season.
“We hit a sweet spot, I think we won eight in a row after a poor start and six of those games were at home,” he told Sportsday WA.
“Then we lost to Richmond back up in Queensland and hit a difficult period where we lost probably eight or nine of our best 22 and we dropped two games and you go into the finals and we missed top four by percentage and we lost the first final by a point.
“It’s a long answer to your question, but I think we did miss an opportunity and it’s probably for the second year in a row, but it’s probably a reflection of our expectations.
“We’ve got a strong list, but we had to use every player almost last year and really got tested and when we got everyone back for that first final we perhaps weren’t at our best and Collingwood had a really good backs against the wall win.
“I suppose every year you don’t finish top four you feel like you’ve underachieved.”
When asked if he thought the Eagles were a top two team this year, Simpson admitted there’s too many variables to know at this stage of the year.
“I don’t know, it’s really hard to tell (if we’re a top two team this year). I’d love to think that’s the case, but it’s really difficult to project the draw, which team’s going to bounce up, injuries, anything off the field that’s happening,” he said.
“One thing I do know is you have to get everything right off the field with how your club’s run and management and no off field issues and stability, so I feel we’re in a pretty good space for that.
“It is difficult to tell because there’s a lot of teams knocking on the door.
“I’ve got plenty of confidence that our playing group has got the hunger and that’s the first step.”