West Coast coach Adam Simpson was impressed with the Eagles’ resilience, but says they left it in the hands of too few against the Suns.

West Coast coach Adam Simpson missed many of the “small victories” the rebuilding Eagles have been chasing, admitting they relied on too few in a 37-point loss to Gold Coast.

The Eagles were beaten around the ball by a tough and tenacious Suns side, led by Matt Rowell, Noah Anderson and Jarrod Witts in a 17.10 (112) to 12.3 (75) loss at People First Stadium on Sunday.

It condemned West Coast to defeat after back-to-back victories that had been the light at the end of a dark tunnel amid more than two years of pain.

Simpson said the Eagles had to be better in the competition after the effort against the Suns.

“We won the first quarter. We lost the fourth quarter on the last goal of the day, but the little wins we chased we probably didn’t get many of them,” Simpson said.

“I saw a little resilience in the group. We looked pretty fatigued midway through the third (fourth) and we tried to open up a little bit in the fourth and got a little reward.

“We will consider this as a learning game. It won’t be ‘bring your mouthguards on Monday,’ but we have to get better at the contest part.”