The Bombers were outworked and outplayed by the Eagles at Subiaco tonight according to assistant coach Alan Richardson.
""The possession numbers were relatively similar but they were able to get the ball into someone's hands in space because they were able to outnumber us at a contest,"" he said.
""There would be two (players) fighting for the ball and they would have a third player there to release the ball to. They worked a little bit harder and it meant they could get better kicks and better entries inside 50m.""
Richardson said the Bombers - who lost by 23-points - hurt themselves by only kicking one goal during two quarters of football.
""The middle part of the game was really disappointing,"" he said.
""We kicked five goals in the first quarter and five in the last but, really, the game was up for grabs in the second and third quarters and we let ourselves down.""
Richardson said the team butchered the ball moving through the middle of the ground and that the new look forward line - which featured Michael Hurley for the first time in 2010 - didn't provide good enough targets.
""He (Hurley) will be better for the run, it was just one of those games,"" he said.
""He is normally really good in a contest but he had Glass on him, who is a fantastic player, who certainly had the better of him. He kicked a clever goal late but we would be hoping for a better performance next time.""
Richardson said he was impressed by the run and dare of Bachar Houli and second gamer Travis Colyer but said both had areas they needed to work on.
He praised Paddy Ryder's efforts in the ruck and the way Cale Hooker fought back into the game after struggling in patches.
""We just had way too many passengers today and we need to look at why that is the case,"" he said.
""We can't just say it's young, inexperienced players letting us down. Just our effort today wasn't up to it and that's been typical of when we play over here and we really need to look at that.""
