West Coast’s desperate last burst against Melbourne reinforced what coach Adam Simpson already knew – that the Eagles’ best is good enough to compete with the best.

However, the challenge for the players and coaches is to bring that energy and workrate more consistently.

The fight for a top eight berth remains well and truly alive heading into a blockbuster RAC Derby, and although West Coast left it too late against the Demons, Simpson saw a spark from his players.

The Eagles played with freedom as they stormed home with a four-goal rally, and took something from the narrow defeat to the new League leaders that they can tap into in the final two rounds.

“It probably shows you our best is as good as anyone's,” Simpson told Channel Seven.

“Our challenge as a playing group and coaching group is to play at our best for longer, and understand that when we lose momentum we can hang in there and fight it out.

“I’m sure Fremantle are confident, we’re confident. It’s going to be a big derby.”

West Coast remains in seventh spot on the ladder and the chance of playing finals for the seventh-straight year remains in the team’s hands.

Victory against Fremantle and Brisbane would guarantee post-season action, while one win would leave the Eagles relying on other results going their way. 

“We know where we’re at, and we know what we need to do going forward and how we need to attack the coming seasons, but we’re playing to win,” Simpson said.

“We want to play finals. That’s always been our goal - it always will be.

“We’ve got a derby this week, so we can’t wait to get into that and we’ll see how we go.”

The Eagles are set to lose three-time Glendinning-Allan medallist Shannon Hurn to a hamstring strain for the RAC Derby, and are awaiting an update on spearhead Josh Kennedy’s knee issue.

Meanwhile, there is a strong chance skipper Luke Shuey (calf), Tom Barrass (hamstring) and Liam Ryan (hamstring) will be available to return against Fremantle.

After the derby, Willie Rioli will be available to play against Brisbane, but a decision is yet to be made whether the small forward will resume via the WAFL or in AFL ranks following a two-month training block.

“Got to sit down this week and work through what that looks like. He’s training fully,” Simpson said.

“All the metrics that we use for GPS indicate that he’s ready to play.

“We’ll sit down with the leaders and the players and work through what the next the phase for Willie is, but he’s done everything right so far.”