Jayden Hunt admits he was not impressed with the way the West Coast Eagles performed in their heavy loss to Adelaide on Sunday.
The Eagles, after beating Hunt’s former club Melbourne at home last weekend, were comfortably beaten by 99 points by the Crows at the Adelaide Oval.
Hunt was honest when sharing his thoughts of the heavy loss.
“It’s really not acceptable, it’s not what we want to stand for,” Hunt said on SEN WA Breakfast.
“We’re not going to shy from the loss, we have got to take things from it.”
Hunt touched on the Eagles’ slow start to the game which saw them trail by 44 points at quarter-time, setting up what proved to be a tough day at the office.
“It was obviously very disappointing; we were slow and sluggish from the start of the game,” he added.
“It took us by surprise.”
With Sunday’s thrashing becoming a trend for the Eagles when they travel, Hunt noted the need for his side to improve their form when playing away from Optus Stadium.
The Eagles have struggled to correlate their good form at home and take it interstate as they sit 0-5 from away games in season 2024 with a losing margin of 59 points.
“We’re looking into away games at the moment, because there’s definitely a polar opposite to the home games,” he continued.
“We need to work out ways to get a quicker start and get the boys up and about and sort of replicate that home crowd.
“(It’s) very different away from home travelling and staying in a hotel, but if you find ways to replicate your home game or as close to as possible, I think that will work best. The older guys (are) leaning on their experience and trying to give that to the younger guys as well.”
West Coast now look towards Saturday’s clash with the struggling Saints back home in Perth where they have showcased their best form so far this year in winning three games.
Hunt is confident that the Eagles can bounce back and return to the type of form that saw them beat quality sides like Melbourne and Fremantle only recently.
“When we are at home we need to feed into the crowd and the energy, we have got a bit of form at home this year so we just have to continue to work into that,” Hunt added further.
“The number one aim this week will be to get back to our identity and play the way that we want to play.
“When we are playing well I think we can compete with anyone, it’s a really exciting brand, it starts with the contest and let our talents take over.”
With Hunt expecting St Kilda to be “at their best”, West Coast will need their stars like Jake Waterman to bring his brilliant recent goal kicking form.
“It’s quite unbelievable his last couple of months, it’s been really good to see especially with his health struggles last year,” he said of his teammate who has booted 30 goals in 2024.
“When he is up and about he brings a lot of energy into the team so we’re loving him at the moment.”
With the mid-season draft fast approaching, Hunt has his “fingers crossed” that ex-Magpie Trey Ruscoe receives a second chance at AFL level after showing good form West Coast’s WAFL side.
The Eagles take on the Saints on Saturday afternoon as they look to get back on the winners’ list at Optus Stadium.