CHRIS Masten isn't feeling anxious ahead of a tricky trip to Brisbane with a top-two spot on the line, with the reborn West Coast wingman instead eyeing a golden opportunity to secure two home finals.
The Eagles fought hard against a ballistic Melbourne outfit on Sunday but blew their first chance to lock away second position on the ladder.
It left them almost certainly needing to negotiate a challenging clash with the improving Lions on the final day of the season to book a home qualifying final, possibly without star forwards Josh Kennedy (shin) and Jack Darling (concussion).
Neither big man trained at Subiaco Oval during a light recovery session on Monday.
But regardless of who takes the field, Masten said the belief and spirit among the Eagles group gave him confidence that they would get the job done.
"I don't think (there is) any anxiety really. It's another game of footy and we've got a massive chance to secure a top-two spot, which is huge for us," Masten said.
"It's more excitement I think to have a crack at them, lock this top-two spot in, September comes around pretty quick and looking forward to it.
"I think that's one of our biggest strengths is our spirit and our brotherhood we've got going on.
"It's something you can't measure, you can't really see, or can't really explain.
"But there's something going on in our group that's a bit special, so definitely in those tight games you feel like something is going to happen always."
Masten said there were no excuses for the Eagles against Melbourne, despite Darling going down with concussion at the 10-minute mark of the first quarter.
West Coast threw Jeremy McGovern forward to provide a target and Nathan Vardy played deep in attack, but the Eagles took only eight marks inside 50 compared to the Demons' 19.
Masten blamed the Eagles' ball use for poor connection with their forwards.
"It definitely doesn't make things easy (losing Darling). Vardy's up there, but you don't have a pure key forward to kick to," Masten said.
"We're playing with blokes that are around my size mostly, so it's going to be hard to take contested marks.
"You have to deliver it in a little bit better, and our connection inside 50 wasn't good even before Jack went down, so it's something we've got to work on.
"It was just on us. Just skill errors, basically."
Masten chatted to Darling post-match and hoped the big Eagle would be available to face the Lions.
"He felt really good after the game. He said the first half he felt a bit dazed, but after that he said he'd come good," he said.
"You never know with these concussions these days – you feel good one minute and feel bad the next.
"He'll go through all the protocols and tick all the boxes he has to. If he gets up, he gets up – I think he probably will – but we'll see how we go."
