West Coast spearhead Jake Waterman is being backed by teammates to kick his way out of a career-worst form slump in front of goals.

Waterman has been one of the dominant forwards of the season to date, having taken 68 shots at goal already but his inaccuracy has cost him, kicking 28 goals and a league-high 34 behinds from 13 games. It is also set to cost him an All-Australian blazer after he made the team for the first time two seasons ago.

The 28-year-old cast a despondent figure on Optus Stadium after the Eagles’ six-point loss to Port Adelaide on Saturday night, having kicked two behinds in the final term from set shots.

Only two years ago, Waterman kicked 53.23 in a breakout season to finish third in the John Worsfold Medal, establishing himself as one of the best key forwards in the AFL.

However, his goal-kicking yips have become an issue in 2026, with his accuracy of 41.2 per cent well below his career average of 52.4 per cent.

Waterman’s form is such that he’s had 19 more shots on goal than Coleman Medal leader Ben King, but the Gold Coast forward’s return of 38.10 has him 10 majors ahead of the talented Eagle.

Eagles captain Liam Duggan said the Eagles would wrap their arms around Waterman who clearly was affected by the tough final term and backed him to find the middle of the sticks sooner rather than later.

“The amount of work that he does, it will turn for him. He’s probably not had the conversion rate that we’ve come to love of Jakey but the work he’s putting in we know it’ll come,” he told The West Australian.

“He’s getting the opportunities, he’s getting the shots on goal, so he’s doing something right.

“There’s plenty of moments through that last quarter, we probably felt the pinch a little bit trying to chase and trying to catch up, and you probably lose a bit of composure, even further up the field.

“There’s a few moments in that last quarter we can review because these are the games we want to be in and we’ve got to learn to win those now as well and it will be good to look through that last quarter and see the opportunities missed.

“We’ll let Jake deal with it the way Jake wants to deal with it, he can be up and down a little bit because he loves this club so much and he wants to do so well for us. We’ll throw the arms around him and get to work with him. We’ll make it hard for him to get shots at training and when he get them, he’ll convert them.”

Eagles coach Andrew McQualter conceded Waterman was “going through it” but loved that the cult hero would not give up.

“We can all see that but what I love is that Jake just never stops competing,” he said.

“You might see some players having the challenges that Jake is having just stop flying for the ball or stop wanting the moment.

“I’m certain it will turn for him. He’s doing the work. I know it is frustrating for him and all of us, but I love the way he competes and he’s leading that forward line really well.”

Geelong great Tom Hawkins identified where Waterman’s downfall was coming from with his setshot goalkicking after a simple early miss in the fourth term.

“He just looks to be falling off the ball and his leg is coming right through and across which doesn’t make for good contact,” he told Fox Footy.

Earlier this year, Waterman himself conceded it was “flattening” to be missing set shots but he was not too worried about it.

“I like to think about how I’m getting my shots on goal, and I’ve had a fair few this year, and you know, the ball just doesn’t fall on your lap, so I’m obviously doing something right,” he told The West Australian last month.

“But your finishing is a bit of a confidence thing, especially with these set shots, you get a fair bit of time to think inside your own head.

“I’m happy the way the result panned out (against Greater Western Sydney), I was able to kick a couple late ones to get the boys up, but yeah, I’m not too worried, to be honest. Obviously, I want to kick every goal, but you can’t.”