Brady Hough was left in tears last week and Tim Kelly is struggling to regain his love for the game, but West Coast coach Andrew McQualter is adamant years of heavy losses aren't taking a psychological toll.
The Eagles appear set for another doomed season after opening their campaign with a 0-5 record.
The season-opening 87-point loss to Gold Coast was ugly.
West Coast's struggles were further highlighted during last week's 71-point loss to Carlton when they tallied just 77 contested possessions for the match - the lowest ever since the stat started being recorded.
Hough broke down in tears while doing an interview after Saturday's defeat.
Kelly, who during the pre-season said "my love of the game hasn't been great over the last couple of years", wasn't even in Adelaide for Gather Round after being dropped to the WAFL.
Eagles forward Jake Waterman this week revealed some of West Coast's younger players don't understand what it's like to train at an AFL standard.
It was hoped the arrival of McQualter, an assistant at Richmond when the Tigers won flags in 2017, 2019 and 2020, would spark a fresh new era.
Instead, the club remains stuck on a losing loop, with the Eagles having tasted just 10 victories over the past 73 games, dating back to the start of the 2022 campaign.
McQualter did his best to play down West Coast's current plight on Wednesday, saying clubs had shown it is possible to rebound strongly from long periods of losing.
"I've seen a lot of teams in my history where you have periods of a journey, of a football club, where you lose (a lot) - they become premiership teams eventually and have premiership players," McQualter said.
"I saw that happen at the Richmond footy club.
"I saw that (a successful period) happen early at St Kilda when I started there, even though some of the guys that I played with were involved in years of losing."
McQualter promised to get out the tackling bags at training following his team's uncompetitive display against Carlton.
West Coast's clearance differential of minus-75 is the worst ever recorded across the opening five rounds of an AFL season, and the team has been routinely beaten in the contested ball stats this year.
Questions about West Coast's training standards are starting to emerge, and McQualter wants to instil a strong work ethic amongst the group.
"For our whole program we're working our way through what is the standard needed for AFL football and to be able to compete and win, and we're looking forensically at everything," McQualter said.
McQualter is confident star defender Jeremy McGovern (groin) will be fit to return for Friday night's clash with Essendon at Optus Stadium.
The fate of dropped duo Kelly and Tom Cole remain up in the air.
But McQualter doesn't think Kelly has fallen out of love with the game.
"In my opinion, that that was taken out of context a little bit," McQualter said.
"He's a competitor who loves winning, and he hasn't been able to win a lot of games in the last few years.
"So that's where it's hard for anyone to enjoy (it when you're) not winning."
McQualter reckons Hough's emotional reaction last week was more to do with the team's woeful contested ball display, rather than years of agony.
"It's never a stat you want to be involved with," McQualter said.
