West Coast is making life harder for itself as its players continue to give away free kicks and 50m penalties for ill-disciplined acts.
Perhaps following off the energy of superstar bad boy Harley Reid, the young Eagles side seems to continuously give the opposition an extra boost by handing them free kicks.
During Saturday afternoon's clash with Richmond at Optus Stadium, West Coast won the inside 50s 64-48, but gave away 23 free kicks to 16, while also handing the Tigers several 50m penalties, including a crucial one late in the game, which the Eagles lost by 11 points.
West Coast coach Andrew McQualter said his players need to fix up this area to help the club's game plan flourish.
"It hurt us," McQualter said post-match.
"I think two goals from 50s, 23 free kicks against is a pretty high number.
"There were a lot of free kicks paid, and we gave away a large amount, and it certainly hurts our pressure game. It hurts your ability to win the contest. It's something that's a work on for us."
West Coast sits equal third in the league for average free kicks against.
Reid (two goals and 26 disposals) and Willem Duursma (18 disposals and one goal) impressed, with the latter's late running goal effort to cut the margin back to four points with a minute left was a highlight for the home crowd.
McQualter said getting as many games together as a unit to build connection was a goal for the young Eagles side.
"We are incredibly clear on our plan, in what we are doing and the path we are on," he said. "We will have blips over the next little period of time, there's no question about that.
"It'll be worth it. I think we saw some pretty good growth signs from individuals today. I think you saw Willem's moment there late in the game. For our fans to see that, that was special. And Harley, I think, stood up and played a good game of football.
"We are getting games into Cooper (Duff-Tytler) and Josh (Lindsay) and Jobe (Shanahan) and Reuben (Ginbey) and all these guys are getting lots of games together, which is important for us and part of our plan."
