WEST COAST coach Adam Simpson remains hopeful that skipper Luke Shuey has escaped serious damage to his calf and it was merely a precautionary measure to sub the midfielder off against Adelaide on Sunday. 

Shuey hurt his troublesome calf during the third quarter of the Eagles' 42-point road victory against the Crows and was later seen icing the affected area on the bench.

The 31-year-old has already missed a large chunk of the season with a calf issue, but has recently returned from the injury to make four consecutive appearances.

"He (Shuey) has got calf awareness and we just didn't want to take a risk," Simpson said after the win.

"At this stage we don't know (the severity). It could be nothing and we are holding out hope (of that).

"It is definitely minor but because of his history we didn't want to take a risk ... I can't tell you what is going to happen.

"He was aware of it and maybe he is over-sensitive and maybe he is not, so we will just hope for the best."

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Shuey's latest issue was the only downer to come from a dominant second-half display in Adelaide as the Eagles won for the first time in a month to regain their place inside the top eight.

Forwards Jamie Cripps and Liam Ryan combined for eight goals, with the duo stepping up in the absence of Josh Kennedy after the spearhead was a late withdrawal with a calf problem.

Simpson is confident Kennedy will return for next week's crucial home clash against St Kilda and is hopeful that his side can build on the performance against the Crows.

"I think our best is good enough for anyone, but our worst is as bad as anyone," an honest Simpson said.

"There is an opportunity for growth over the next five weeks no matter what.

"We will keep exploring our list and our younger players and trying to get our best players to play well.

"But we are in the eight, so we need to have a swing as well."

Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks was bitterly disappointed with his side's performance, especially with the late fadeout that saw the Crows give up 10 goals after half-time as the Eagles began to gain in confidence.

"We are too far off our brand at the moment," Nicks said.

"We brought the intent this week, but for whatever reason we dropped away."

Nicks was highly critical of his team's efforts at the stoppages as in-form tall Nic Naitanui helped the Eagles win the centre clearance count 14-8.

"The parts that take no talent, we didn't get those right tonight," he said.

"You don't need to be an elite ball user to stand in the spot where your teammate needs you.

"We prided ourselves on our end to last season and the first half of this year, but we are not showing it at the moment."

But despite the fact his side has now slumped to four consecutive losses, Nicks believes there is still plenty of time to turn things around.

"At the moment It's not about looking at the premiership ladder, it's about winning games of footy and playing a style of footy that people want to come and watch," he said.

"We have got a fair bit of work to do to find our form and find that brand that we are not seeing at the moment."