West Coast Eagles must decide if coach Adam Simpson is victim or culprit after Adelaide mauling

It preys on the weak.

Right now it is chewing West Coast up and spitting them out.

The only question for the Eagles is whether they stick with their beleaguered coach Adam Simpson, believing no-one else could do better with the cattle they have, or whether they make a change to seek clear air.

Simpson has a contract. But he also now has a 5-39 win-loss since round 13 two years ago. His team has lost its last 11 by a minimum of 40 points and on Saturday against the Crows they hit the maximum of 122 points.

When a strong opposition like Adelaide plays a weak team like West Coast, bad things happen. When the strong team is able to pit its absolute strength against an absolute weakness, even worse things happen.

And with the Eagles defence stripped back to almost WAFL level in terms of expertise and experience, against a vibrant Adelaide attack with a milestone man and multiple threats, this was absolute strength versus absolute weakness.

It became just about as bad as it gets.

West Coast’s misery was Adelaide’s celebration. Their 250-gamer Taylor Walker kicked 10 goals. He might have kicked 12 or 13 if Eagles coach Adam Simpson hadn’t sent his own best goalkicker Oscar Allen and put him on him, simply because he was the best equipped player to slow the bleeding.

This was West Coast’s third 100-point loss of the season. The pain on Simpson’s face in the coaches box in the final term said everything that needed to be said.

He has no answers.

If there were any positives to be drawn by the Eagles it was that Bailey Williams played another terrific match in the ruck. He won 35 hit outs, six clearances and a swag of 20 possessions around the ground with a goal. Against the odds, he won his position.

Mid-season rookie draft pick Ryan Maric had a goal minutes after the start of his AFL debut and kicked a second in the third term. There were more than a few moments where he looked a step off the tempo of AFL football. But there were enough moments when, given opportunity, he looked capable of taking opportunity.

Brady Hough coped well in some one-on-one moments with the silky Izak Rankine. Playing in a backline that was under siege, Hough did the basics well. He kept his feet, did not concede contests and competed hard. He shows a bit. So did Reuben Ginbey, who had 19 disposals and laid seven tackles.

But this was not a match. It was a mismatch.

With Jeremy McGovern, Tom Barrass, Liam Duggan, Shannon Hurn and Josh Rotham missing from the backline – and with the bloke they had earmarked to fill in back there, Jake Waterman, a late withdrawal through illness – Simpson was not faced with a decision on how he would fill the holes. He was faced with the decision of which holes he left unfilled.

Like a card player trying to win the World Series of Poker while continually being dealt a pair of twos, Simpson had to turn a losing hand into one that would not produce a disastrous loss.

This was best illustrated by his use of Elliot Yeo.

He could have played Yeo in the midfield and hoped for a win there that would have taken the pressure off his backline. Or he could back the presence of returning captain Luke Shuey to help him break even in the midfield and send Yeo to defence to try and reduce his number of mismatches by at least one.

Pick your poison, coach: Cyanide or strychnine.

They are both going to kill you. It’s just how you want to die.

Simpson picked Yeo in defence and was dead in the water at quarter time.

The Crows horsewhipped the Eagles 18-8 at clearances in the first term. They won the first term inside fifty count 18-5. The undermanned, undersized and under-experienced Eagles backline was never going to cope, Yeo or no Yeo.

Jayden Hunt, at 188cm, spent time on Riley Thilthorpe, 202cm. Walker went to half time with seven goals – equalling a career best in just half a game – but the four opponents he had played on told a story.

The 250 game veteran started on 19 year-old defender Rhett Bazzo, then he pitted his 194cm, 102kg frame against Yeo who, despite his class, muscle and experience, was still giving away 10kg and three centimetres. He kicked one on Alex Witherden, 188cm and 85kg. Just before half time, full forward Allen went down the other end and onto him.

West Coast did not help themselves in the contest. They were minus 26 in contested possession at half time. It was partly about intensity and partly about their lack of clean ball handling.

Simpson needed maximum output from all of his senior players and he got a mixed bag instead. There were great efforts from Tim Kelly, who went to half time with 16 disposals and three clearances and hit every ground ball with serious intent.

There was clear effort from Yeo – despite the uphill battle he faced – and Shuey, whose one first half sin was getting a little too vigorous trying to impact the game.

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But there were just six first half touches each from Dom Sheed and Andrew Gaff while Jack Darling didn’t get a disposal until well into the second term and did not kick a goal until late in the last.

Simpson is the football equivalent of a man in front of a firing squad now.

It is just a matter of whether his club thinks pulling the trigger will make any difference.