Fremantle, which lost mature-age recruit Tendai Mzungu early to a medial ligament injury, prevailed 13.12 (90) to 11.15 (81), in an entertaining practice match at Fremantle Oval.
Returning midfielders Stephen Hill and David Mundy came off the bench in the second half to have an impact, while underdone youngsters Nat Fyfe and Hayden Ballantyne were impressive with two goals each.
Fyfe was particularly effective for Fremantle rotating between half-forward and the midfield, while Adam McPhee and rookie Nick Lower gave the hosts their midfield grunt.
Aaron Sandilands grew more influential as the game wore on, with West Coast counterpart Dean Cox subbed out of the game at half-time. Up front, Michael Walters was lively for Fremantle with four goals.
For West Coast, draftees Jack Darling and Andrew Gaff continued to push for round one debuts, with Darling outstanding in the forward line.
The burly youngster added significant tackling pressure to the Eagles attack, at one point chasing down Fremantle skipper Matthew Pavlich from behind. He missed his chances in front of goal, however.
Young midfielder Luke Shuey continued a polished pre-season, winning plenty of possession and kicking a superb running goal from long range in the second term.
Senior midfielder Adam Selwood is in danger of missing round one after suffering a hamstring injury, but coach John Worsfold said it was otherwise a perfect result for his side.
"It's exactly what we wanted and winds up a pretty solid pre-season for us," he said.
"Taking into account what we wanted to get out of the game, we're really pleased.[We got] the workload into certain players that we wanted to work extra hard. Other guys we wanted to give a lot less workload today, and we did that.
"So we're rapt with the way the boys went about it."
Fremantle coach Mark Harvey was left explaining yet another pre-season injury, with Mzungu joining five players from the side's best line-up on the sidelines.
The coach said the injury would open the door for someone else and his players should be boosted by the win leading into round one.
More important than the result, however, was the return of midfield playmakers Mundy and Hill, who started as substitutes and were injected into the game after half-time.
"I thought both of them had some impact when they came on," Harvey said.
"We'll have to wait and see this week in training whether we would push them back to a WAFL game. Ideally we'd like to keep them fresh for round one."
Lower was also impressive, particularly in the first half, and Harvey said he was the front-runner to earn promotion to the senior list ahead of round one.
"We'll make that decision on Monday … his intent's really good," the coach said.
Fremantle, hosting the match at its training base, raced out to a 17-point lead early in the first quarter.
West Coast, sparked by Mark LeCras, enjoyed its best run early in the second term, kicking four consecutive goals, but it was a tight affair thereafter.
Fyfe and Ballantyne combined for the goal that gave Fremantle the lead early in the fourth term before Walters sealed the result with his fourth major late in the term.
West Coast 1.4 6.7 10.9 11.15 (81)
Fremantle 3.2 5.6 11.7 13.12 (90)
GOALS
West Coast: Wilson 3, Ebert 2, LeCras 2, Embley, Shuey, Kennedy, Darling
Fremantle: Walters 4, Mayne 2, Fyfe 2, Ballantyne 2, Sandilands, Crowley, Pavlich
BEST
West Coast: Shuey, LeCras, Darling, Rosa, Hurn, Gaff
Fremantle: Fyfe, McPhee, Sandilands, Suban, Walters, Lower
INJURIES
West Coast: Adam Selwood (hamstring) Fremantle: Mzungu (leg)
Reports: Nil
Crowd: 6,583 at Fremantle Oval
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL
