West Coast coach Andrew McQualter has defended the decision to play prized No.1 draftee Willem Duursma predominantly as a forward in their 53-point defeat to Carlton on Saturday.

The exciting showdown between the two Rising Star favourites Duursma and Blue Jagga Smith floundered at Marvel Stadium, with the young Eagle restricted to a career-low 12 touches and a goal at Marvel Stadium.

Meanwhile, Smith lit up the clash with a career-high nine clearances to go with 23 touches and a goal on the final siren as Carlton claimed a 17.15 (117) to 9.10 (64) victory.

Duursma had played as a midfielder and wingman in his first 13 games at the top level, but was utilised as a tall forward for the first three quarters before being unleashed into the engine room in the last.

Meanwhile, his usual partner-in-crime Harley Reid was left to battle against a star-studded Blues midfield that won the clearance count 34-20.

McQualter said he wanted to test Duursma’s ability as a forward and while he looked “dangerous”, conceded it didn’t quite work as hoped.

“We know he’s played there a lot in his career as a young man. We wanted to explore his opportunity to help us score,” he said.

“I think he looked dangerous quite often, but it didn’t quite come off for him. He hasn’t played forward for a while.

“We’re just working (through) exactly what our best mix will look like and how it will work. I say it to our players all the time, I really value flexibility and different ways. So we’ll keep exploring that while trying to be as settled as possible. It’s a bit of a fine line that we play there but we’re trying to help the team as much as we can.

“He played all mid last quarter. It’s always challenging with any of your best players in your team, where do you maximise their position?

“We didn’t quite get as much supply as we’ve been getting. And Carlton, the way they worked back we had to try to keep our forwards ahead of the ball and it was a challenge for us at times. I thought he had some looks and he’ll be better for the run playing forward if we chose to do it again.”

Meanwhile, the Eagles will sweat on the fitness of fellow top draftee Cooper Duff-Tytler who finished the game on the bench with a calf injury.

McQualter said he expected Duff-Tytler’s injury to be on the minor side as they prepare for a six-day turnaround when they host Adelaide at Optus Stadium on Friday night.

“We were trying and hopeful he might be able to continue but he just had some tightness or awareness,” he said.

“As with all our players, particularly our young ones, we’re not going to take risk.

“We’re not sure (how bad it is) yet. We’ll go away and have a look at it.”

The defeat was the Eagles’ seventh consecutive against Carlton, who have been able to regularly beat up on the rebuilding side over the past few years, with an average winning margin of 66 in that time.

McQualter said they would have to do something different in the future after they were once again smashed by the Victorian outfit.

“Particularly at the contest again, they got us by 30 today. They have been able to really beat us up around the ball,” he said.

“That’s three times in a row that I’ll talk about that it has happened.

“We spoke about it today. We have to do something better and different against them.”