AFLW: Waalitj Marawar coach Daisy Pearce adamant they still have plenty to play for despite slim finals hopes

Waalitj Marawar (West Coast) are adamant their players are not short of motivation ahead of their last two games of the home-and-away season, despite it being almost impossible for them to shoot into the finals.

Daisy Pearce’s Eagles face Geelong at home on Saturday and then travel to play Sydney in the final fortnight of a season where they have made vast improvements.

A maiden finals appearance is almost out of the question. The Eagles sit in 11th, level on wins with 10th-placed Euro-Yroke (St Kilda) and one game behind Essendon and Yartapuulti, who are seventh. But their poor percentage of 71 leave them behind the eight-ball.

Eagles legend Chris Judd made an appearance at the club’s Mineral Resources Park headquarters this week and told players he credits their famous 2006 premiership to the back end of the 2004 season.

“I have been enthused by the way we have attacked the past couple of weeks, I know we haven’t been getting our results with three losses in a row, but I reckon the last three weeks have been some of our best on the track in terms of our energy and our work-rate and just our want to learn,” Pearce said.

“So while we are not having that translate to wins and four points, which would be nice, I haven’t had to try and motivate them.

“I think they have got a real sense we are on a journey and trying to improve, as was the case when we did come off a win, our expectation is that our players turn up on Monday really clear and honest about the things that worked and we need to keep investing in and the things to become stronger in the competition we have to keep getting better at.

“That hasn’t really changed from earlier in the season when we were getting results to now when we have been losing.

“I wouldn’t say motivation has been an issue.”

Pearce said she had a focus on her forwards getting more bang for buck when they have the ball in their part of the ground.

Waalitj Marawar have kicked just two goals in their past two matches. They scored 1.6 against the Dockers and 1.2 against Hawthorn the week before.

“One of the biggest things to work on is getting bang for buck and being more efficient when we go inside forward-50 and when we do have the ball locked in our end of the ground,” Pearce said.

The Eagles coach is also on high-alert for Geelong’s turnover game, which she says is an even bigger factor than a star-studded midfield that includes guns Nina Morrison, Georgie Prespakis and Amy Mcdonald.

“Whilst their midfield is strong, they play off turnover quite a bit, almost like their men’s side do,” Pearce said.

“They don’t concede clearance, but is not a massive KPI for them, they can get their damage done off winning the ball back in defensive-half and moving it off that.

“So ensuring players like Hosko (Jess Hosking) give us a good contest ahead of the ball and our ability to really pressure them in our front-half is going to be key.”