Port Adelaide unleashed a stunning late charge to overwhelm West Coast by five points in the AFL.
WEST Coast coach John Worsfold has refused to rule out a flag tilt should the Eagles finish the season outside the top four.
Another woeful outing in front of goal last night cost West Coast a win, as it let a 41-point, third-quarter lead slip to Port Adelaide and take its season to just one win and four losses.
A top-four finish has been the Eagles mantra since their semi-final exit last year off the back of a fifth placing at the end of the home and away season and history rules against teams winning the premiership after finishing outside the four.
No team has achieved the feat under the current system, but Worsfold last night refused to accept that as a fait accompli.
"We've still got a lot of footy ahead, that doesn't change," Worsfold said. "The premiership teams have come from the top four the majority of times and, if we don't make it, then this is going to be one of the rare years where maybe it doesn't.
"Our aim is to play better footy and we can do that, keep pushing up and anything is possible; we'll see where it takes us.
"But our focus is on playing better footy, not; how far we've got to go in the season, how many wins it's going to take to finish in certain spots."
West Coast Eagles player slook dejected after the game. Picture: Sarah Reed
West Coast faces more personnel issues this week, after losing reliable workhorse Matt Priddis, but Worsfold said the injury concerns ended there.
Darren Glass, who was reported for rough conduct, could consider himself unlucky in receiving a suspension as he did not leave the ground and did not appear to make head-high contact.
Worsfold said he was unsure whether Priddis would be available to face the Western Bulldogs on Sunday, but that reinforcements could be welcomed back after Sharrod Wellingham and Matt Rosa made it through a second week in the WAFL.
"(I spoke to Priddis) briefly and he's feeling good, so that's good," Worsfold said. "Wellingham and Rosa got through again, so they're up and going. They're available now, we're really pleased with how they went, so they're available for selection.
"To fast track them would have been to play them tonight, but we felt they needed the hitout to be now available for senior selection.
"But our focus at the moment is going to be to improve the football we're playing with the personnel we're playing and we can still do that, regardless of waiting for players to come back."
Ashton Hams is collected high by Tom Jonas. Picture: Sarah Reed
Last night was the second consecutive week that kicking errors hounded West Coast, after the side last week posted 7.23 to lose to Carlton at home.
A frank Worsfold said it was an area that offered little excuse and the side had to work through its mental demons.
"Our boys have been bad for a couple of weeks, but they haven't been bad for the weeks prior to that, or last year," he said.
"So there's something going on; (maybe) they're feeling the pressure, they're coughing it up, I don't know.
"They've got to kick the goals, that's their job, we expect them to kick them, not all the time, but certainly kick some of the ones they've missed the last couple of weeks."
Matt Priddis off after being concussed Picture: Reed Sarah
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