{"id":720037,"date":"2026-06-07T00:41:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T00:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/720037\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T00:41:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T00:41:11","slug":"afl-2026-west-coast-coach-andrew-mcqualter-said-he-was-gutted-after-the-eagles-loss-to-port-adelaide-reuben-ginbey-injury-update-press-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/720037\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL 2026: West Coast coach Andrew McQualter said he was gutted after the Eagles loss to Port Adelaide, Reuben Ginbey injury update, press conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

West Coast coach Andrew McQualter was left \u201cgutted\u201d by his side\u2019s six-point loss to Port Adelaide on Saturday night<\/a> as he shared an update on the injury concern to key defender Reuben Ginbey.<\/p>\n

The Eagles fought back from 22 points down during the third quarter to come within a kick of hitting the lead late in the game.<\/p>\n

\ufeffWatch every match of every round of the AFL Premiership Season LIVE and ad-break free during play on FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

WHAT’S GAMBLING REALLY COSTING YOU? Set a deposit limit. For Free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au.<\/p>\n

West Coast\u2019s last four scores of the match were all behinds as they narrowly missed the chance to nab a fifth win of the season despite leading the inside 50s 19-8 in the final term.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m gutted. I\u2019m gutted that that\u2019s the result we got, the outcome we got, but really pleased and proud of the effort and the fight, the will to win, and competing,\u201d McQualter said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re so disappointed with that loss today, and we thought we had chances to win it. But to be able to fight our way through some pressure in that first half \u2026. these guys are finding more ways to fight and compete.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andrew McQualter, Senior Coach of the Eagles during the round 13 AFL match between West Coast Eagles and Port Adelaide at Optus Stadium.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

McQualter said dual Brisbane Lions premiership player Brandon Starcevich can fill the void left by Ginbey if his injury keeps the 21-year-old sidelined for an extended period.<\/p>\n

Ginbey, who only just signed a contract extension until the end of 2030, limped from Optus Stadium in the third quarter.<\/p>\n

A quad injury is likely to keep him sideline for some time.<\/p>\n

Ginbey has arguably been the Eagles best player this season, trying to keep the competition\u2019s best forwards quiet each week.<\/p>\n

His injury came about trying to run down Port\u2019s Mitch Georgiades as he kicked his only goal of the night.<\/p>\n

But McQualter said Starcevich, who made his debut for the Eagles on Saturday night after overcoming his own injury, is going to become an important player for his new side.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s done that before, and he\u2019s certainly got a strong aerial game, so yep, that\u2019d be an option we look into,\u201d McQualter said of Starcevich filling in for Ginbey.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, we, like most teams, need great pressure on the ball anyway, which I thought, for the most part of the game, we had tonight.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Ginbey) didn\u2019t look good, certainly it made me a little bit sad, as I imagine it did for all of our Eagles supporters.<\/p>\n

Reuben Ginbey of the Eagles comes out at three quarter time with ice on his quad.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we don\u2019t know. We\u2019ll go away, we\u2019ll do all the tests required and see what happens.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bit of a challenge for us, but I thought the guys competed really hard for those last two quarters, you know, (Rhett) Bazzo and (Tylar) Young were really competitive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought they did a good job.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got some options that we\u2019ll work our way through, and you know, like any team, having one of your best players is hard to replace, but we\u2019ll find a way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starcevich joined the Eagles during this off season, after playing 132 games for Brisbane. He was restricted to just nine in 2025, but played in the grand final win.<\/p>\n

He played only two WAFL games before being called up to the AFL.<\/p>\n

Carr proud of fourth-quarter response | 05:00<\/p>\n

He had 13 touches against Port, two clearances and four tackles.<\/p>\n

McQualter was just happy to finally have him in the line up.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was awesome to see Starce play for us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s only going to get better.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s missed a lot of football, so he had a few cramps there late in the game and worked his way through it.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the more he plays with these guys, understands the way we play, he\u2019s going to be so important for us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"West Coast coach Andrew McQualter was left \u201cgutted\u201d by his side\u2019s six-point loss to Port Adelaide on Saturday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":720038,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,8406,64,63,689,55,639,20781,3237,349057,3230,86430,159555,19972,27709,25890,677,6082,1079,28362,62647,349058,1124,85,349059,7067],"class_list":["post-720037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-andrew-mcqualter","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-brandon-starcevich","tag-brisbane-lions","tag-fresh-headache","tag-grand-final-win","tag-injury-blow","tag-injury-concern","tag-injury-update","tag-josh-carr","tag-mitch-georgiades","tag-oceania","tag-port-adelaide","tag-quad-injury","tag-rising-star","tag-sides-loss","tag-six-point-loss","tag-south-australia","tag-sports","tag-wasted-chances","tag-west-coast-eagles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=720037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720037\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/720038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=720037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=720037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=720037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}