West Coast coach Adam Simpson hopes the lightning break that halted play against Melbourne on Monday night proves to be the "divine intervention" that sparks his team's season.

The Eagles will need to win their remaining two games, against Fremantle and Brisbane, to guarantee a top eight finish after losing to the top-placed Demons by nine points at Optus Stadium.

They will also need to overcome more injury issues after former skipper Shannon Hurn suffered a minor hamstring injury and defender Liam Duggan was withdrawn with knee soreness that could keep him sidelined for at least another week.

Simpson hoped the late surge against the Demons, which saw the Eagles pile on four unanswered goals and slash the margin from 33 points to nine, could inspire a late-season recovery.

"It was a bit of divine intervention I thought the way we were playing at the start of the last," Simpson said of the lightning break on Monday night.

"We saw a spark with our players we haven’t seen for a while. We need to leverage off that, but we still assess some of the points of the game where we got well beaten.

"We played the way we’d like to play. That’s a positive sign we can take from it. But we still have to work on the lapses and the momentum that costs us an extra two or three goals and puts the game almost out of reach."

Simpson praised the senior players who have been under pressure for leading the late fightback against an impressive Melbourne that secured a top-four finish.

The 10-10 Eagles, meanwhile, remain locked in seventh spot, where they have been at the end of 13 of the past 14 rounds.

Midfielder Elliot Yeo was outstanding with 31 disposals (20 contested), 14 clearances and eight inside 50s, standing up in his best game since returning from osteitis pubis.

"You can tell when he clicks into that beast mode I suppose, and competing against a very good opposition," the coach said. 

"I’m really happy for him that he finished off well.

"I thought Melbourne’s mids overall probably had a more consistent game, whereas we had periods when we were on top and we didn’t capitalise as much as Melbourne."