West Coast coach Daisy Pearce is adamant her side have not regressed this season, but concedes the Eagles have experienced difficulties in the process of adding new layers to their game.

On the back of the first AFLW finals appearance in the club’s history last year, the Eagles — who have adopted the name Waalitj Marawar for the competition’s Indigenous Round — are without a victory in their first four games of their 2026 campaign.

Their winless start to the season rolled on with a 37-point loss to second-placed Naarm (Melbourne) at Mineral Resources Park on Sunday, leaving them already eight premiership points adrift of a group of teams down to 13th with 2-2 win-loss records.

While Pearce remained bullish her side is capable of breaking back into the top eight, she said they may have unintentionally taken a step backwards in their first month in the hope of improving further.

“The first couple of weeks, we were off with our defensive system,” Pearce said.

“If anything, it’s probably a good little lesson for us, that while you try to add parts to your game, you’ve still got to water your core and make sure that part of the garden keeps growing as well.

“We came out of last season wanting to improve, so went after a few things — stoppage being one of them, which we have improved in, but it’s probably been at the expense of our defence.

“To the credit of the players, I feel like in the last two weeks, we’ve got that back and working, but we’ve had some strong opposition in the last two games.”

Breaking into the top eight last year has meant West Coast have been challenged with a tougher fixture this season, which will continue when they host traditional powerhouse Brisbane on Saturday.

But Pearce said she was more focused on how her own side was faring than the identity of the teams their draw pitted them against.

“You play who you play. We saw in the first two rounds, (the) Giants and Gold Coast played some quality footy, and have improved,” she said.

“I don’t get too bogged down in studying the draw. We just want to get better every week.

“The competition’s laying down a challenge, because it’s improving, and it improves year on year.”