WEST Coast coach Andrew McQualter believes the Eagles are "not tough enough" after being handed a 19th loss in 20 games this year.
The Eagles were thrashed by Melbourne by 83 points at Marvel Stadium on Saturday.
DEMONS v EAGLES Full match coverage and stats
While West Coast, which has officially claimed the wooden spoon for 2025, again relied on youth, McQualter said the Eagles' performance was disappointing.
"We're not tough enough, at all, as a football club, as a football team at the moment," he said.
"That's got nothing to do with age, that's something that we just can't accept."
The Eagles will complete a miserable season with matches against Adelaide, the Western Bulldogs and Sydney.
McQualter said it was important for his side to find a way to close the gap between its best, and its worst.
"We have to, we have to get something out of it," he said.
"We have to be better than we were today because we have three tough opponents coming up and we have to challenge our team, our staff, our club that we still need to improve, clearly, and the next three weeks is more opportunity to do that.
"We'll just review this game the same way as we do, we'll get really clear on what we're going after, but we need to close the gap on our best and our worst. That's a big thing we're going to focus on in the next three weeks."
It was a much-needed win for Melbourne, which responded after giving up the biggest three-quarter time lead in VFL/AFL history in last week's loss to St Kilda.
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20:17
Mini-Match: Melbourne v West Coast
Extended highlights of the Demons and Eagles clash in round 21 of the 2025 Toyota AFL Premiership Season
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07:33
'That's exactly the sort of response that you want and hopefully it's a building block to keep moving forward': Goodwin
Watch Melbourne’s press conference after round 21’s match against West Coast
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04:23
'A disappointing game, not the way we wanted to play today': McQualter
Watch West Coast’s press conference after round 21’s match against Melbourne
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08:08
Highlights: Melbourne v West Coast
The Demons and Eagles clash in round 21 of the 2025 Toyota AFL Premiership Season
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00:46
Sky-high Jai takes soaring grab and slots truly
Jai Culley continues to impress in his Melbourne debut with a terrific grab and goal
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03:20
‘Perfect 10’: All the goals from Dees’ devastating quarter
Melbourne erupts with 10 third-quarter goals in a ruthless response to last week’s collapse
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00:39
Delisted Eagle holds his new jumper in special debut goal
Jai Culley takes a terrific grab and delivers a passionate celebration after nailing his first major in new colours
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01:00
Bowey’s brilliant smother sparks Demons’ ‘best passage’
Jake Bowey gets in the way of certain Eagles goal before Kade Chandler finishes truly at the other end
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00:47
Brutal head clash sees gun Eagle helped off ground
Liam Ryan enters HIA protocols following this sickening clash of heads on the wing
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00:25
'Almost sums up the Eagles’ season': Bench sign baffles commentators
Commentators see the funny side of an upside-down interchange sign from West Coast
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00:41
Fritsch’s shocking shank somehow turns to gold
Jacob van Rooyen ends up with a major after Bayley Fritsch shanked his set shot 20 metres from goal
Captain Max Gawn (21 disposals and a goal) and vice-captain Jack Viney (25 and one, plus 13 clearances) led the response.
"They're warriors of the Melbourne footy club," Demons coach Simon Goodwin said.
"They're proud leaders and they were outstanding, right from the set up early in the week about how we were going to review to what they drove.
"To come out and perform the way they performed, it wasn't just those guys but clearly they're the two key pillars of your footy team.
"But Ed Langdon, Christian Petracca, Tom Sparrow … Trent Rivers is a leader of our footy club, and they all came out and performed to a really high level."
