Spalding ramming home non-negotiables to DemonsFriday, April 10, 2015 - 7:43 PM - by Chris Pike

PERTH coach Earl Spalding knows that his Demons team is a work in progress but one thing he can't compromise on is giving 100 per cent and being hard at the ball, and he's already had to make some hard calls on talented players who aren’t delivering exactly that.

Spalding was never under any illusions that the job he was taking on in his second stint as a WAFL senior coach was always going to be a tough one with Perth losing its last 14 matches of 2014 and taking out the wooden spoon.

On top of that, Perth then saw Paul Bevan, Cale Morton, Nick Kane, Gerald Ugle, Jared Risol, Haydn Busher and Matthew Moody all leave the club with all of them among their best and most experienced players.

That left Spalding knowing he was fully in rebuilding mode and the result has been a 96-point loss to Swan Districts, 10-point defeat to South Fremantle and 79-point loss to West Perth but the new coach just wants to get his team's competitiveness right.

Right now, talent-wise the Demons might not be able to compete with the better teams in the competition but it's that effort and putting their bodies on the line in the contest that is something they can compete with right now.

For the most part, that is an area Spalding has been happy with from his team and players not willing to do it have found themselves in the reserves so far in 2015.

"In all three games we have been pretty good in the contested stuff. Whether that translates to contested possession or not I'm not entirely sure, it's not a stat we are capable of taking through Champion Data," Spalding told 91.3 SportFM.

"We are certainly a group who can put our head over the ball and that's something I insist on. A few of our guys who aren’t getting a game at the moment, that's the reason they've been told and until they can take care of that part of the game they will be lacking opportunity.

"To their credit a couple of them stood up in that area on the weekend in the twos and they had a fantastic win so they will be given an opportunity whether it's this week or coming weeks. That's something in insist on and I'm pretty confident that that part of our game is certainly not one of our weaknesses."

Perth didn’t deliver a lot of good signs in Round 1 against Swan Districts and fell away in the last quarter and-a-half against West Perth, but the big finish including a run of five goals in 12 minutes against South Fremantle in Round 2 saw some signs that things weren’t all doom and gloom.

Spalding now just sees those signs turn into output for longer periods of games.

"It's been a bit frustrating but on the positive there have been signs of improvement. We are just letting ourselves down in certain parts of our game," he said.

"On the weekend we got back to within three goals in the third quarter and then made some really basic errors from some of our senior players got the momentum shifted their way, and then we fell away really badly in the last quarter again away from home.

"That's something we need to address but there are some positive signs and w have a youthful group. We are going to keep working with those guys because they will be the ones who drag us out of the mire we are in at the moment."

Perth's midfield might not have the depth of the best teams in the competition at the moment and particularly with Brett Hodge and Dene White sidelined that is emphasised, but Aidan Tropiano continues to pull his weight.

The 22-year-old had become a regular league player with East Fremantle, but was after a greater role in the midfield and cross to Perth midway through last season and fitted in instantly.

He averaged over 26 disposals a game in the last eight matches of 2014 and now has started 2015 in blistering fashion with 103 touches the first three games including 36 last Saturday against West Perth. Spalding couldn’t ask for any more of him.

"He certainly has sore shoulders from carrying most of the teammates around, he was outstanding again last week," he said.

"It's hard to have the best player on the ground in the side that has been belted, but I thought he was clearly the best player on the ground. They had several really good contributors but I thought Trops' work in the stoppages and his heavy work all over the ground was fantastic."

Liam McKenna is another new arrival to Perth in 2015 with him looking for more league opportunities than he was getting with Peel Thunder.

He has fitted into the Demons' midfield well this season winning plenty of the ball including 25 possessions against West Perth, but Spalding is most impressed with his ability to take on the chin some constructive criticism.

"He has been really good too, Bluey. He is fantastic around the group and I hit up a few guys at half-time, some of our more experienced guys about how they were performing and not much about their mistakes, although Bluey did hold on to the ball longer than he should have a couple of times," Spalding said.

"That's just what we expect from our senior group and I spoke to a couple of them on Monday to make sure they were going OK. Bluey was fantastic about it and knew he deserved it so that's what all you want from your group is a bit of honesty. I can't speak highly enough about how good he's been around the group."