West Coast interim coach Jarrad Schofield believes he has helped the club "shift the axis", despite a 93-point hiding from Geelong seemingly denting his chances of winning the full-time job.
Schofield is yet to officially declare whether he wants to apply to be former coach Adam Simpson's successor, but has enjoyed his brief time in the hot seat and appears certain to put up his hand.
Consecutive wins over Gold Coast and North Melbourne were ticks for the 49-year-old, but tough losses to Carlton and the Cats over the past fortnight have been blows.
The Eagles' 26.12 (168) to 11.9 (75) loss to Geelong at GMHBA Stadium on Saturday brought down the curtain on their season, leaving them 16th with a 5-18 win-loss record.
Schofield finished with two wins from seven games in charge after taking the reins from Simpson in July.
"I've really enjoyed the opportunity that was put on me to lead the club," Schofield said.
"I've said all along, I just want to be in a position to try to help the team be better and keep taking steps forward - and I think we've done that in small parts.
"It's hard in six weeks to put a real influence on it, but I think we've shifted the axis a little bit."
Schofield deflected attention away from himself when asked how he feels about his chances of winning the coaching race.
"To be honest, I've said it before, my whole focus is on the game week to week," Schofield said.
"The game's just done, I'm not even thinking about that.
"My thoughts are with the players in the next room and our staff."
West Coast's five wins this season matched their combined tally from the previous two campaigns.
Schofield was adamant the Eagles had taken positive steps this year, but conceded "we've still got a long road ahead of us".
"I think we've been pretty united and connected as a football club," he said.
"There have been a lot of steps forward and we have showed a lot of resilience as a football club as well."
West Coast's "embarrassing" first-half display against Geelong made them only the eighth team in AFL/VFL history to trail by 100 points or more at half-time.
Schofield liked the response from his players after the main break, with the Eagles outscoring their finals-bound hosts by seven points in the second half.
"The positive is, and we've shown it, that we do have resilience within us and the players responded," Schofield said.
"We ended up winning the second half against a very good side that are fighting for top four.
"But we'll take a lot of learnings from the game."
