Eagles don’t want to get burnt by Pies

West Coast got torched by the Swans last week, and coach Adam Simpson says they’ll get burnt again if they switch off against Collingwood in Sunday’s AFL clash at Domain Stadium.

The Eagles led Sydney midway through the third quarter, before conceding the final six goals of the match to lose by 39 points.

Simpson was upset at how drastically his team fell away, and says anything short of a four-quarter effort against Collingwood will come back to bite them.

“We just don’t have the luxury of switching off in any area for too long, because you get burnt,” Simpson said.

“We need to get back to playing our best footy, and we need to do it for four quarters.

“We did it for a chunk of the game last week, but not the whole game.

“Against a good side – and we’ll confront that this week – if we don’t do it all day, we’ll have a battle on our hands.”

Collingwood gained some much-needed confidence on Monday with a 69-point trouncing of Essendon at the MCG.

And with games against strugglers Carlton and Brisbane to come after Sunday’s match, Collingwood have a chance to get some momentum rolling.

West Coast will start as hot favourites in Sunday’s match, but Simpson isn’t taking the Magpies lightly in the wake of their big win over Essendon.

“It was the highest score they’ve kicked in four years,” Simpson said.

“They really put pressure on the game and converted.

“There’s genuine excitement around the club at the moment. They’ll come over with a lot of confidence.”

West Coast received a dose of good news this week when Xavier Ellis was cleared to return via the WAFL.

Ellis has been sidelined since round one after suffering a tear to his Achilles tendon, but the former Hawk is several weeks ahead of schedule and ready to play for East Perth in the WAFL.

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