WEST Coast coach Adam Simpson has launched a spirited defence of Nathan Vardy amid questions about the ruckman's form after Saturday night's tense 23-point win over Gold Coast.

The Eagles took the unusual step of stopping their long-held two-ruck strategy before last round's shocking loss to Geelong when they dropped Vardy following a quiet start to the season.

But the premiership big man earned a late reprieve against the Suns after Tom Hickey, who starred against the Cats with 25 disposals and 12 clearances, was withdrawn due to a hamstring strain.

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Hickey could be back against another of his former clubs, St Kilda, next round and it remains to be seen whether West Coast will commit to playing two ruckmen after Vardy had a tough battle against Gold Coast giant Jarrod Witts.

Witts dominated the ruck with 60 hitouts, compared to Vardy's 30, and had 14 disposals – 10 more than his Eagles counterpart.

But Simpson was pleased with Vardy's contribution to the Eagles controlling clearances 43-33.

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"You didn't think he played well tonight? How did you think he went tonight?" Simpson bristled after a question about Vardy's form.

"I was pretty happy with the 'collective' from Vards. He's a ruckman. He rucked almost all night. He hasn't rucked on his own ever.

"So to do it with minimal help from Oscar Allen against a 209cm animal, I thought he contributed to our clearance domination in the end.

"That's not his role (to win possessions around the ground). We'd love him to take a few grabs and have more influence with the ball, and there's been games where he's done that.

"But he's playing his role at the moment. 

"I thought he finished off the game strong and I was happy with this contest work, despite his numbers."

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Simpson was also pleased for under-scrutiny forward Jack Darling, who responded with four goals after going scoreless in consecutive games.

"He was good. I hadn't really been listening to a lot of media in the last seven days but I'm assuming he's riding the rollercoaster of criticism and I'm not living in that space," he said.

"He's going to have some bad games, he's going to have some good games, and I think we see more good than bad.

"He's a big boy. He's OK (with criticism). We get a lot of praise as well, we just don't deviate like you guys (media) do."

Simpson conceded West Coast still had work to do after watching his side's 42-point lead whittled away to just 11 points in the final term against the Suns. 

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He was clearly frustrated in the coaches' box during Gold Coast's fightback but was relieved to get back on the winners list after two poor defeats to Port Adelaide and the Cats.

"We'll take the win. I think you've got to take the win. I think we had improvement," Simpson said.

"Over the last two weeks we've been really disappointing, in particular winning the ball, and giving our forwards some opportunity and our leaders have been a bit off.

"I thought all our leaders stood up and even in the last 10 minutes when we needed to put our foot down and try to ice the game, I thought they stood up there as well."