Just keep on on winning, Simpson tells Eagles
West Coast have charged back into finals contention after a 60-point demolition of Collingwood at Patersons Stadium yesterday, but could have lost star recruit Xavier Ellis for the season.
The Eagles can gatecrash the top eight next weekend if they beat Essendon at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night and other results go their way in the third-last round of the season.
But they will have to pull off their third successive victory without Ellis (shoulder) and potentially a "touch and go" Mark LeCras (calf), who was a late withdrawal yesterday.
The Eagles will give themselves every chance against the Bombers after knocking off two challengers in the Magpies and Adelaide over the past nine days.
Coach Adam Simpson said they had to prove after yesterday's thumping 19.12 (126) to 10.6 (66) win their form over the past fortnight was "real" and not a one-off.
The 11th-placed Eagles are now just a win behind the seventh-placed Crows and eighth-placed Essendon.
They boast one of the best percentages of the teams around them, with winnable matches remaining against Melbourne (home) and Gold Coast (away) after next weekend.
"We've just got to keep winning," Simpson said.
"Every week is our potential last week of being available for finals. A six-day break, Essendon on the rebound over there, so that's the next challenge for us.
"We've got players going out and not many coming in at the moment. We're getting pretty light on for numbers and that's what made today pretty pleasing.
"It wasn't ideal some of our match-ups and personnel, but we found a way … maybe the pressure valve got released a little bit a few weeks ago thinking maybe the season was over and they've released the shackles a little bit.
"This is the test now, to see how much of this is real."
Ellis, 26, hurt his AC joint after landing on his right shoulder in the first quarter, having backed into a marking contest and been collected high by Ben Reid.
He went straight down into the rooms and was substituted out of the match at quarter time. He will miss a minimum of two weeks.
"It was pretty brave what he did, but that's footy," Simpson said.
Simpson said vice-captain Scott Selwood was pushing hard and could be available for the club's final two matches.
Mitch Brown played out the second half with a corked left calf despite initially being carried from the ground by trainers in the second term.
Scott Lycett, who is on the brink of re-signing with West Coast, booted a career-high four goals to stamp his importance to the club's future as the team's tall timber booted 14 of their 19 goals against Collingwood.
The emerging ruckman kicked two goals in the space of two minutes to start the second half in a run of six successive majors that broke Collingwood.
The Magpies slumped to ninth on the back of their fourth loss in five matches. They face Brisbane at the MCG on Saturday night.
