West Coast responded to last week's upset home loss to Essendon in emphatic fashion, recording a backs-to-the-wall victory over Carlton despite missing a host of key senior players for the trip to the SCG.
The Eagles were without captain Luke Shuey (hamstring), as well as Oscar Allen (concussion), Liam Duggan (knee), Tim Kelly (knee), Jeremy McGovern (knee) and Josh Kennedy (soreness), but still recorded a morale-boosting win.
The side also lost All-Australian defender Brad Sheppard to concussion following a bruising collision with Adam Saad during the first quarter, but were inspired by Liam Ryan's four-goal haul to restore its two-game buffer inside the top-eight.
"We're really proud," West Coast coach Adam Simpson said.
"We played with plenty of spirit. I got the sense all week that we were building towards a game where we could really dig in and make our supporters proud.
"We've been a little bit inconsistent this year, but tonight, we were down on numbers – like every club – but we were missing a few pretty good players. The young kids stood up, but our leaders were exceptional.
"It was our captain (Nic Naitanui), in his first game as captain, but it was right through the lines. Those type of guys, for as much as we're missing some players we've still got some really good leaders in the side."
West Coast remains in seventh spot on the ladder with a 7-5 record and will face the eighth-placed Tigers in a pivotal match-up next round.
The Eagles are likely to regain young forward Oscar Allen (concussion) for Sunday's clash with Richmond at Optus Stadium, while spearhead Josh Kennedy (soreness) could also come into consideration.
A host of big names are on track to return post-bye, with Shuey, McGovern, Kelly and Duggan all closing in on their comebacks.
