WEST Coast overlooked Matt Priddis against St Kilda due to the "quick deck" at Etihad Stadium but coach Adam Simpson is preparing to back in the retiring Brownlow medallist for the final three rounds.
Priddis travelled to Melbourne as the emergency and watched from the coach's box as his teammates were smashed in the contested ball count by 31, tackles by 12 and clearances by nine in a disastrous fourth quarter.
But the stoppage specialist, who averages the third-most tackles in the AFL (7.6), is set to feature in the desperate battle to play finals against Carlton, Greater Western Sydney and Adelaide on the run home.
"We managed him later in the week last week, we did the same thing with Mitch (Sam Mitchell) two weeks ago," Simpson told Channel Seven on Monday night.
"After a good win against Brisbane and on a quick deck over at Etihad we thought we'd get him right for this week.
"He came over as an emergency and he'll play hopefully in our next three games."
A frustrated Simpson is back questioning his side's fitness, resilience and personnel after yet another final-quarter fadeout cost them in an eight-point defeat to the Saints.
"It's been a real concern all year really," he said.
"Time in front as a stat we're probably second or third in the comp, so to be in those positions that the game is up for grabs and for us not to close it out is a real concern.
"We're looking really hard at it, we're looking to redeem it as quick as we can, but I won't go into too much detail what we think it is.
"The contested ball up until three-quarter time, or halfway through the last quarter, was tracking pretty even.
"We lost it by 30 in the last quarter, so clearly there's something we need to work on and it's something we're really trying hard to fix pretty quickly."
The Eagles slipped to ninth on the ladder and need to win at least two of their final three matches to stay alive in the finals race.
West Coast's ageing list continues to be put under the microscope in a season that has failed to live up to expectations of a top-four assault, and Simpson has repeatedly stated the Eagles will be significantly younger in 2018.
Priddis and Mitchell will hang up the boots at season's end and the likes of Sam Butler and Drew Petrie could follow.
But star forward Josh Kennedy slammed talk it would be better in the long run for West Coast to miss the top eight and accelerate its list cleanout.
"To be honest, that’s absolutely rubbish," Kennedy said.
"To say that we shouldn’t make finals, I don’t even know how to answer that.
"I think it’s completely rubbish."
