WEST Coast coach Adam Simpson believes his side is playing good enough football to challenge for a premiership even if it doesn’t finish in the top four.

The Eagles will spend Friday night in the four after a stunning 29-point win over Adelaide at Adelaide Oval and enter September as arguably the form side in the competition following wins over Hawthorn and GWS in the past three weeks.

But the Eagles are likely to slip back out of the top four come the end of the minor rounds, with Hawthorn and GWS both strong chances to record wins.

It would mean West Coast would have to become the first team since Adelaide in 1998 to win the flag from outside the top four, a task Simpson doesn’t believe is beyond his group.

WATCH: Adam Simpson's full post-match media conference

“We’ve got a lot of confidence in what we do and how we play, and we’re building,’’ Simpson said. 

“We won’t be thinking we can’t win it if we don’t finish in the top four. We’ve gone past that.”

West Coast’s dismantling of an Adelaide side entering the clash with 12 wins in 13 games was spectacular to watch.

Making it even more meritorious was the fact it came without Nic Naitanui, who will miss up to 12 months after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament the previous week.

Simpson said despite external talk that the Eagles' hopes were sunk without the brilliant ruckman, it wasn’t a big focus within the club.

Simpson made a beeline for Naitanui’s replacement Jonathan Giles after the match and, despite playing down the big ruckman’s performance, was clearly thrilled with his effort.

Giles finished the match with 15 possessions and 29 hit-outs, and was the outstanding ruckman on the ground in his third match since joining the club this season.

“When we got (Giles) he knew where he was at with the ruckmen we’ve got,’’ Simpson said.

“So to come over under that knowledge is testament him and he understood he was going to be spending a fair bit football at (WAFL club) East Perth.

“We called upon him tonight and we were really pleased with how he played.”

Midfielder Andrew Gaff brought his two-match possession tally to just shy of 80, with a dominant 41 touches against the Crows, and his performance was telling all night.

But Simpson believes some of West Coast’s late season resurgence has come from their second-tier players, and he said they again shone in what was a dominant win.

“I think there’s a good even spread at the moment across the board,’’ Simpson said.

“They (the second tier players) are playing their role. It always helps when you get 18, 19, 20 players digging in. I thought we got that tonight.”

Adel v WC: Full match coverage and stats

Simpson called on emerging defender Tom Barrass to receive a NAB AFL Rising Star nomination, describing his game as “pretty special” opposed to Taylor Walker and Josh Jenkins.

It could be argued the week off heading into this year’s finals is inopportune for the Eagles given their momentum, but Simpson said the club welcomed the chance to rest sore bodies and freshen up.

“We’ll take it, we’ve got some sore boys,’’ he said.

“I think they (the AFL) will work through it in their own way. What would have happened if there wasn’t a bye? Some clubs would have rested 10 players again this week and we would have all been complaining about it.

“At the moment, I think every club is just reflecting on their own situation.

“We’ll get the bodies right. We’ve got some guys that have been pretty special for us all year and they’ve been playing pretty sore.”