West Coast coach Daisy Pearce has revealed the three-pronged approach the Eagles will take to help superstar Ella Roberts continue to deal with close attention from opposition sides.

Roberts was well held in West Coast’s opening round defeat to Greater Western Sydney at Engie Stadium on Sunday, restricted to a goal from 15 disposals.

The Giants laid out a blueprint for how to stop the star 21-year-old, widely regarded as one of the best players in the competition and crucial to the Eagles’ hopes of making consecutive finals appearances.

Pearce said it was on Roberts, her teammates and the coaches to help the midfield gun have an impact even when she is tagged.

“Ella’s been tagged most games she’s played in her AFLW career, and it’s not going to be less, is it?” Pearce said.

“I reckon there’s three layers to it. It’s Ella working on the strategy and tactics around it, it’s her teammates identifying when they can help her, and then us from the coaches’ box going into the game with a few things up our sleeves to help her as well.

“The thing I’m really confident in is all three of those things. We’re going to work hard to do it, and I back Ella in. It’s not a bad thing when you have a 15-disposal day and kick a goal, and everyone’s talking about how you got tagged out of it. I’m still really proud of Ella and her performances and back her in this weekend.”

West Coast will look to rebound from their first-up defeat when they host Gold Coast at Mineral Resources Park on Saturday afternoon.

Pearce said they had to work on their offence and get more “bang for buck” after winning the inside-50 count by 15.

“We thought some of our contest and stoppage work was really strong, and for the most part we defended them pretty well, but we definitely need to get more bang for buck with our entries,” she said.

“Both when we’re moving it in from transition, but a lot of that was re-entry ... because the Giants were flooded back on us, it just made it hard to find something threatening.

“Personnel is one thing we’ll look at, but we’ll also train how to thin out their defence when the game does look like that and be a bit more creative. We got in a bit of a mode of forcing it back into their numbers, which made it hard for us to score but also fed a bit of their rebound as well.

“It’s more around our method and practising that and backing in the players that are down there. Ella is one we can push down there, and we tried her there in the third quarter, and she was able to hit the scoreboard as a way to help us but also help her when she’s going to get tagged most weeks.”