WEST Coast coach Daisy Pearce will spend a block of pre-season embedded with Andrew McQualter's AFL program as she looks to further develop her coaching and build the hard and challenging edge that her AFLW players are hungry for in 2027. 

Pearce and the Eagles' AFLW team have completed exit meetings and did a full-day review of the season last Thursday, with the coach conceding there was clear disappointment in a 4-8 campaign that was not "up to scratch". 

The third-year coach said all players, coaches and staff would be searching for ways to improve across the off-season, with Pearce excited by the opportunity to study the competition's finalists and then embed with the Eagles' AFL program. 

In a wide-ranging end of season interview with AFL.com.au, Pearce said part of her focus would be developing a more direct coaching style that strikes the right balance for her young group. 

"I was part of quite an empowered and experienced group towards the end of my playing career, and I'm probably a little bit that way as a coach where I'm quite collaborative and not very authoritative," Pearce said. 

"But I think what I've learned, and the feedback that I'm getting from the players, is that they actually want me and us to be a bit more direct with how we drive standards.

"That's always a balance, and I remember every year I'd say to Mick (Stinear) as our coach, 'You've got to be harder on us', and I feel like they're doing the same to me.

"Once you build the relationships and there is trust that you care, you get the platform to do that. So I'll keep finding ways to challenge them and trying to get that balance right."

While disappointed to be watching on this year after an historic first finals campaign in 2025, Pearce said the Eagles were keeping things in perspective and had clear feedback from the season on where they could improve quickly. 

Re-establishing their defensive strength will be a priority after conceding 54.6 points a game, which was significantly up from 35.3 in 2025, and putting more time into their stoppage and offence game. 

Pearce said there was also a clear need for the Eagles to improve their fundamentals under pressure and continue to drive strength and conditioning standards to catch the competition's benchmark teams.

Targeting experience from opposition clubs is part of the club's strategy, with Collingwood star Ruby Schleicher set to join the club in the upcoming trade period, along with potentially more ready-made players. 

"She's our main priority and she's made it pretty clear that she wants to come here," Pearce said of Schleicher. 

"From that point of view, we're really confident and then we just work with Collingwood to get the trade done. 

"My attention [hasn't been on] the mechanics of picks and things, but we'll work out something that's fair.

"It's a strategy to add some experience and maturity to our group and we'll get that deal done first. But we'll look at some other opportunities as well."

The importance of adding talent and experience was amplified for West Coast in the final round of the season when superstar midfielder Ella Roberts suffered a devastating ACL injury that could rule her out for the 2027 season. 

Pearce said the 21-year-old, who collected her third straight club champion award on Friday night, had found a silver lining in the setback and helped teammates and coaches deal with the shock and disappointment of the injury. 

"Any time an ACL happens, it just sucks and there's no other way of putting it … but it's certainly been easier because of Ella's mindset towards it," Pearce said. 

"She'll be spewing to have to sit out a fair bit of footy, but she's really optimistic about the opportunity it gives her to work on herself individually in footy but then in life as well.

"She came into this team and shouldered so much responsibility, as well as how the rest of the competition view her.

"It will be a great opportunity for her to strip it back and work on the detail in herself as an athlete, as a person, and as a footy player. She hasn't had that luxury that a normal player might get."

The challenge for the Eagles now is to build a midfield in the absence of Roberts that can become deeper and less susceptible to taggers when the dual All Australian and two-time Derby medallist returns. 

Young star Lucia Painter shapes as crucial to that goal and will train as a midfielder after showing progress in that role and then producing excellent back-to-back performances to end the season. 

"Her size is a big point of difference for us and we're really invested in her development as a mid, even though we see value and can see her ability forward," Pearce said. 

"Her running ability is incredible. The next layer is working as part of a midfield group and being part of a system, and that's the thing that I think we saw grow as the year went on.

"[We want] a hard-working midfield group that are cohesive, know how to work as a team and have improved their own individual craft so that when Ella comes back in, it takes a bit of the pressure and attention off her.

"There's an opportunity to do that over the next little while."

The Eagles beat cross-town rival Fremantle for the first time in an AFLW Derby in 2026, as well as Brisbane, and won four games in a row for the first time in their history, so there were positives and signs of progress. 

But sacrifice and discipline will be required, Pearce said, to accelerate in 2027 and climb back up the ladder from a 13th place finish, with the coach insisting that no one player will make that happen on their own.

"The message to our group, and not just our players but our staff as well, is how do we all go away and what perspective do we choose to take from the season?" Pearce said. 

"How do we get a bit better by being curious about how we can be better at our jobs, whether that's players, coaches or staff? The sum of all of that will see us improve, not any one magic thing."