After back-to-back wins, West Coast was smacked up to the tune of 128 points by the Sydney Swans last weekend.

Amid all the carnage the Swans managed to silence the in-form Harley Reid, which was noted by his former Eagles coach Adam Simpson.

The former No.1 pick was in stellar form across the opening three weeks, however, facing the challenge of a James Jordon tag, Reid was completely nullified.

Held to just 17 disposals at 65 per cent, the Eagles were battered at clearance, and Simpson believes opposition teams would be silly not to follow suit.

“He’s still got to work on (dealing with the tag),” Simpson said on SEN’s Whateley.

“I don’t worry about the rhetoric around it, but if you tag him, he is going to struggle to get the ball. That’s his next phase to work through.

“I think he’ll get attention every week now. He was off the leash for three weeks, now that’s going to get reined in.”

The Eagles hardly helped themselves in their thrashing at the hands of the Swans.

However, the fixture leading into the contest did them no favours either.

Off the back of two straight wins, the Eagles were awarded just five rest days – with travel from Adelaide back to WA - before hosting premiership contenders Sydney.

And while that sort of turnaround is hardly unusual for West Coast, the Swans’ break certainly was, losing to Hawthorn on Thursday night in Round 2 before enjoying a significant 15-day break.

The discrepancy prompted Simpson to re-open the ongoing discussion on the AFL’s fixture misses in 2026.

“The fixture has got a little bit to do with it, but Sydney just come ready to go, and they’ve done that before against West Coast,” Simpson added.

“Two years on average older, 100 games per player more experienced – they won’t take much out of that game, West Coast, other than just a bit of reality.

“It’s just unnecessary, from a fixture point of view.

“West Coast have a six-day break back from Adelaide, so a six-day break, travel, playing against a side that had a bye and had 50 minutes of match sim, and can refine what they’re going to do.

“I’m not sure of the stats of it all, and I’m sure Sydney could have gone and done the same thing without the 18-day break, but it’s just unnecessary to have that discrepancy at Round 4.

“It just doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

The Eagles have a task on their hands in Round 5, taking on Geelong in an early start at Norwood Oval on Sunday.