DESPITE winning just one game from its opening seven matches, West Coast coach John Worsfold has denied the club is in crisis. In the wake of the Eagles' 37-point loss to Carlton on Friday night, Worsfold admitted to poor form and injury but said he was feeling no added pressure.

After a lacklustre first-half effort against the Blues, Worsfold did admit for the first time that during the match he had questioned his players' desire to fight for a match.

This time last year, the Eagles were sitting second on the ladder - only trailing Port Adelaide on percentage - having lost just one of their opening seven rounds.

"We've got injuries and we are in poor form and we have got players who need to lift, Worsfold said.

"To me a crisis would be where there is no direction given to the players, or the players don't want to go down the direction they have been given to them, or the players don't want to play for the club or the coach. I don't think we are in a crisis."

With former captain Chris Judd playing for Carlton, the match had a massive build-up and Worsfold seemed to criticise his players for their failure to live up to the pressure.

"Players have got to show at AFL level that they have the ability to play the game under all sorts of pressure," he said.

"We need players who can deliver. And if they cannot deliver in these types of games then it is unlikely they will deliver in the big games - but we are going to have make those calls at the right time."

Worsfold labelled the first-half performance one of the worst during his time as coach.

"In the second quarter for sure, it was probably the first time where I've really questioned whether they were prepared to keep the fight up," Worsfold said.

"In the third quarter they played as you would expect a team to go out and play, I don't think they did any more, they just raised the standard to where the minimum should be."

Despite the poor run of form, and with difficult matches against North Melbourne, Adelaide, Collingwood and Sydney to come in the month after the break, Worsfold said he was feeling no additional pressure this year.

"I felt pressure every week in 2006, every week - and we won a premiership. Whether you are winning or losing there is pressure on you to get the best out of yourself," Worsfold said.

To add to the absence of Judd and former captain Ben Cousins, the Eagles have been hit by suspension and injury. Daniel Kerr still has two matches to serve of his suspension for headbutting the Western Bulldogs' Scott West and the likes of Adam Hunter, Matt Priddis, Mark Le Cras and Shannon Hurn are out injured.

Despite his excitement at leading Carlton to its first victory over the Eagles in Perth since round 12, 2000, Judd did feel sympathy for his former teammates.

"A lot of them are good mates and they're obviously going through a lean patch and I certainly feel for them," Judd said. "But they're all big boys and I'm certain they'll bounce back."

The Blues have now won three of their last four matches and are well in touch with the top eight. The one down side for Carlton was an incident involving spearhead Brendan Fevola and Adam Selwood in the last term, which will come under scrutiny from the match review panel tomorrow.

After four first-half goals, Fevola's dual personality shone through with a swinging arm to Selwood's stomach flooring the Eagle in the last term. With penalty points from an earlier incident still hanging over his head, Fevola could find the punch costs him a match on the sidelines.

Carlton coach Brett Ratten was delighted with the way his team responded to West Coast's second-half comeback when the Eagles closed to within seven points.

"We know that John Worsfold teams will come out swinging and scratching if they're going to go down and to their credit, they got right back into the game," Ratten said. "So I thought it was just outstanding for a young team to be nearly headed in the last quarter and to fight back and get a victory by close to six goals."