By Justin Chadwick
Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick has leapt to the defence of Andrew McQualter after the new Eagles mentor endured a nightmare start to his reign at West Coast.
Ben King kicked a career-high six goals and Jarrod Witts racked up 68 hitouts in the ruck as Gold Coast thumped the Eagles by 87 points – 20.16 (136) to 7.7 (49) – in Perth.
New Eagles coach Andrew McQualter had a baptism of fire on Sunday.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
West Coast were thrashed in the contested possession count (145-102), inside 50s (67-34) and clearances (50-33) on a woeful day.
West Coast are still in the midst of the biggest rebuild in the club’s history, with the Eagles posting only a combined 10 wins across the past three seasons.
That horror run led to the exit of premiership coach Adam Simpson, and hopes of a swift lift under McQualter evaporated in the space of three hours on Sunday as Gold Coast’s star-studded midfield ran rampant.
McQualter spent almost a decade working under Hardwick at Richmond, with the pair helping guide the Tigers to three flags.
Hardwick was quick to go in to bat for McQualter after Sunday’s mauling.
“He’s going through the journey that every new coach goes through,” Hardwick said.
“What West Coast have got to understand, they’ve got an absolute cracker. This kid’s a star.
“He’s going to be very, very good, and the players will get great growth and learnings. He’s that sort of guy.
“He’s a wonderful coach. He’ll be fine. They’ll be fine.”
McQualter rued his team’s lack of fight at the contest, but is confident he will be able to find the answers ahead of Sunday’s clash with Brisbane at the Gabba.
“The beauty of footy, and I’ve seen it for a while, is you get opportunity, you go away and watch this tape, and I’m confident in a few days I’ll have really clear answers of how we can improve quickly,” McQualter said.
“I’ve never watched a tape and not had answers. But clearly we’ve got some work to do.
“Right now, it’s incredibly deflating.
“It’s a funny comp though, you look around and there’s four teams probably feeling like us right now.
“It’s not the way we want to play, it’s not the team we want to be, but we’ll go away and get to work.”
Harley Reid was among a raft of Eagles players who got distracted by off-the-ball push-and-shoves, but McQualter didn’t see any great problems with it.
“Not a concern. We lost a contested ball by 43, I’d rather we spend our energy on that,” he said.
Eagles forward Jake Waterman entered the match battling a calf niggle and was subbed out in the third quarter, but McQualter said it was merely a precaution.
Co-captain Liam Duggan injured his ankle and also must pass a fitness test before being given the green light to face Brisbane.
Gold Coast are sweating on the fitness of defender Charlie Ballard, who may have torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee after a jarring landing just before half-time.
AAP
