WEST Coast's unplanned week off will give its quartet of sore key players a much-needed boost as they race for full fitness ahead of the club's first home preliminary final in a decade.
The Eagles produced a stunning 32-point win over Hawthorn on Friday night to book a place in the last four for the first time since 2011.
Simpson said he hadn't planned for the week off but Matt Priddis (quad), Chris Masten (hamstring), Jeremy McGovern (shoulder) and Will Schofield (hamstring) desperately needed the rest.
Priddis, who was a late withdrawal just 90 minutes before the match, is expected to be fine for the prelim, as is Masten, who was ruled out earlier in the week.
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"He just had a bit of a sore quad," Simpson said of Priddis.
"We gave him every chance to play. He hurt it last week. Normally he comes up with those little niggles. He didn't come up this week.
"We've got a lot of sore players though, so we're going to need the break to recuperate."
McGovern is another who will be desperate for a break. He could barely raise his left arm above his head on Friday night due to an AC joint problem in his left shoulder that he has been carrying since round 22.
He spent most of the first quarter in the rooms but returned to play out the game.
"His shoulder is sore," Simpson said.
"He's struggling to get it above his head. So he's going to enjoy the break."
Six things we learned from West Coast v Hawthorn
Schofield was subbed out of the game in the last quarter in his first game back since injuring a hamstring against Fremantle in round 20.
"First game back, so he was just tight," Simpson said.
"I wish I could say I thought the game was iced at three-quarter time, but I wasn't feeling like that.
"So we had to wait a little bit, and finally made the call."
Simpson said he had not thought about how his team would handle the next too weeks ahead of a home preliminary final.
"(We'll) treat it like a bye I suppose, how we recover.
"We haven't planned (for this).
"We'll plan tonight how we recover and what we do over the weekend, what we do over the break and no doubt our guys, they're really sore. So they'll all be about recovery."
