West Coast coach Adam Simpson won't be distracted by wooden spoon talk as he attempts to find a new way to motivate his group following Josh Kennedy's retirement.
Kennedy kicked eight goals in his 293rd and final AFL match on Sunday but the remarkable haul wasn't enough to lift the Eagles to victory against Adelaide.
The 16-point loss left West Coast (2-18) just 5.3 percentage points ahead of last-placed North Melbourne (2-18).
The Eagles face tough fixtures against flag fancies Fremantle and Geelong (away) to finish off the year, while North Melbourne have winnable games against Adelaide and Gold Coast.
West Coast have only finished last once in their 35 VFL/AFL seasons, but Simpson won't make avoiding the wooden spoon a focal point for his players.
"We just want to improve. That (avoiding the wooden spoon) is not necessarily the goal or the objective," Simpson said.
"We just want to play as well as we can with what we've got and keep growing and learning."
Eagles players rode the wave of emotions of Kennedy's farewell match. Simpson's challenge now is to have them roaring again for Saturday night's western derby against Fremantle.
"It's going to be a challenge. I've spoken about that to the leaders already," Simpson said.
"Obviously Fremantle are a top-four/top-six side, so all due respect to JK, we'll have a couple of quiet ones in the rooms and then we're onto next week.
"Then we've got Geelong in Geelong, and that'll put some hairs on your chest as well."
Kennedy bows out with a club-record 723 goals from 293 games, and his exit is another step in West Coast's rebuild.
This year will mark the second straight season West Coast have missed the finals and some experts are predicting another three to five years in the wilderness.
Kennedy is confident the club can defy the doom and gloom predictions.
"This football club has been through the cycles of footy for the last 36 years and it's been able to pull itself out of being down the bottom to play finals and grand finals and win four flags," Kennedy said.
"The energy from Simmo from day dot has sparked a lot of guys with their development over the back end of the year and I've got no doubt they'll take a lot of positives into pre-season.
"I've got no doubt the boys will be back playing finals in the next couple of years."
