FORCED to come from behind for the second successive week, West Coast Eagles AFLW coach Daisy Pearce said it was a combination of fitness as well as pressure that helped instill the belief in the playing group. After a stunning turnaround in form against St Kilda at RSEA Park in Round 3, the Eagles were made to work for it again after trailing by 19 points at the five-minute mark of the third term.

Fortunately for Pearce and her Eagles, Kellie Gibson, Lauren Wakfer and Charlotte Riggs helped put the Eagles back on top, and when Jaide Britton joined the party, there was no stopping the home side at Mineral Resources Park. West Coast went on to kick seven of the last eight goals in the match and come away with the 7.3 (45) to 10.4 (64) victory.

When asked about what she was most proud of, Pearce said it was the pressure and ability to adjust on the fly when challenged which was a sign of a maturing group.

“I think just our pressure again across four quarters,” she said. “Our ability to just keep turning up for each other and hanging in when Port Adelaide took their opportunities early. Our ability to keep adjusting in games is getting better and better. When the opposition throws something at us we can identify it and then go back at it, so I thought that was tested today with some of Port Adelaide’s challenges, and our group’s resilience just keeps growing, and good to get the result.”

Pearce said the team had “done a lot of work” on their fitness, and with their strong belief in one another, it has been a great area of development for the blue and gold.

“I mean they’ve always had that competitiveness, but I think the bit that’s growing more and more is their understanding of our process, so when we go three goals down it’s not ‘oh no what do we do?’, they know what to turn to now and what to dial up,” she said. “I think understanding the bits of our game that aren’t working when that happens and their ability to change it grown a lot.”

Despite trailing by 19 points and Port gaining the all-important first goal after the main break, the Eagles remained calm and gradually worked back into the contest before putting the foot down late with another three majors after Britton’s goal.

“At no stage did we feel panicked, we knew what we weren’t doing well,” Pearce said. “I thought we over-handballed in that first quarter again. “Just the balance of trying to use our weapons and get it out to our runners versus acknowledging that the opposition’s really good and just taking the ball forward.

“It was a factor last week against St Kilda and then again in the first quarter today, but that was one of the things we were able to adjust on the fly, and once we started taking it forward and giving our forwards an opportunity, they played a bit more in front, I thought the game started looking more like our game.”

West Coast moved to 3-1 on the season and now head into a massive Derby with Fremantle, a side that has been struggling and suffered three straight losses since an opening round victory over Port Adelaide. Despite the respective formlines, Pearce was taking each game as it comes.

When asked if it was the best the Eagles had looked heading into a Derby and if West Coast could finally knock off the Dockers for the first time, Pearce was confident in her team’s abilities and belief in one another.

“I think they’re definitely got belief and understanding of the way we want to play, and the competition for spots and a deep squad certainly helps as it just keeps the healthy competition going and Fremantle will be a big challenge,” she said. “We haven’t beaten them before and we know what a good team they are, they’re strong around the ball and we look forward to the challenge like Port Adelaide provided today.”