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Full Noise by SN
Running It Straight: 6pm TuesdaysPanic stations for Eagles after “disgusting” effort
SEN • March 2nd, 2026 9:51 am
Kane Cornes reckons the alarm bells will be ringing after West Coast’s heavy AAMI Community Series loss to Port Adelaide on Sunday.
The Eagles were thumped by 73 points at Mineral Resources Park after conceding the first eight goals of the match.
Andrew McQualter’s side was seen making some very basic skill errors throughout the contest and Cornes wonders if it’s panic stations for the beleaguered Eagles, describing it as a “disgusting” performance.
“Just revisiting the panic metre that we revealed in January off the back of a whole heap of injuries,” Cornes said on* SEN’s Fireball*.
“After seeing what I saw yesterday from West Coast, who won one game last year, they are top of the charts for the panic stations metre.
“What I saw was nothing short of disgusting, particularly in the first quarter. They fought back pretty well but they were just not AFL standard.
“It was a bit alarming, really, from what we saw with the inability to execute the basic skills. West Coast just kept kicking it back to them.
“Port Adelaide were sharp, their pressure was excellent and their good players came with an attitude of ferocity led by Zak Butters and Connor Rozee, who I thought was outstanding.
“How bad is this going to get for West Coast? And is it possible it gets worse before it gets better considering they won one game last year?”
Cornes was also critical of Harley Reid who had 22 disposals at 50 per cent efficiency and at times was seen remonstrating with the umpires.
“I don’t want to continually put it on Harley Reid because it’s just unfair that whenever they lose we speak about him,” Cornes added.
“But year three in - and we’re all barracking for him, we all hope it goes well - but to see him still playing for free kicks and sooking to the umpire, I thought was going to be well past him.
“Pre-season, frustrating result - I just hope we don’t see that frustration boil over and he gets sucked in again to wrestling, paying for frees, fumbling, which we saw yesterday.
“I just think there are some significant alarm bells and unfortunately he’s the barometer for that side. If his attitude is not right it is infectious for the rest of the group.
“We can overreact to pre-season but from what we saw it just wasn’t AFL standard.”
Strangely the Eagles finished the match with more inside 50s (50-48) than Port but could only muster 22 scoring shots (9.13) while conceding 30 shots (22.8).
McQualter’s men kick off their 2026 season in Round 1 against Gold Coast at People First Stadium on Sunday, March 15.
