ADAM Simpson has praised West Coast's improved resilience after watching his side hang tough in Sunday's Western Derby triumph but says he won't know where the Eagles are at until after the challenging month ahead.

The Eagles consolidated second spot on the ladder with a gritty eight-point triumph over Fremantle, their sixth consecutive victory over their crosstown rivals.

It was West Coast's fifth-straight triumph after going down to Sydney in round one and, against most expectations, Simpson's side is shaping as a serious final contender.

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But with Port Adelaide (home), the Giants (away) and reigning premier Richmond (home) to come more stern tests await the rejuvenated Eagles.

"I think we're becoming a bit more resilient with the way we go about it," Simpson said.

"There were stages last year where we might not have won last week (against Carlton), we might have gotten rolled today.

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"I think the players have worked really hard on that, staying on task all day. Our good players are playing well, as well.

"Where are we at? Ask me in three weeks.

"We're not worrying about (being) finals contenders, we just want to play good footy and play with spirit and if we win, that's great, if we don't we'll back up the next week.

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"It's really simple from my point-of-view, I'm not trying to overcoach the situation and we'll see where it all lies at the end of the year.

"But, at the moment, they're getting rewarded. Sometimes you don't."

West Coast could be without speedster Lewis Jetta (calf) for the Power clash, however Simpson played down lingering speculation about Eagles carrying soreness.

Simpson's side produced an even team performance to overcome the gallant Dockers, but skipper Shannon Hurn was a standout and shared the Ross Glendinning Medal with opponent Lachie Neale.

"They're both deserving winners. You've got to give Freo some credit on the performance as well," Simpson said.

"They stuck to the task all day. They lost (Michael) Walters pretty early and they never looked out of it, so I think it was worthy of both of them."

Big man Scott Lycett was also outstanding, finishing with 18 touches, 20 hit-outs and four clearances in a complete ruck performance.

"We missed him last year, just like we missed Nic (Naitanui). Those two combine really well," Simpson said.

"Not many clubs play two ruckmen, but we think we've got a bit of a unique attribute with both of them – they're both pretty good when the ball hits the deck.

"When Scott's at his best, he can follow-up and tackle as good as anyone and I thought we saw a few of those today that were really important plays.

"His ruck craft is still evolving. We were happy with our rucks today."

The Eagles convincingly won the clearance battle (44-31) – an area they have focused heavily on in recent weeks – with Elliot Yeo keeping Dockers superstar Nat Fyfe in check around stoppages.

"I did get told at some stage that Fyfe had got a bit of the ball and they threw him forward late," Simpson said.

"There's no one I would rather on Fyfe late in a game than Yeo. That was a really important 10 or 15 minutes, he looked really dangerous and probably should have kicked a couple of goals.

"I was happy with Yeo's performance, I'm not sure Fyfe was as damaging as he has been in the past."