WEST Coast coach Adam Simpson has praised his side's determination to fight back from an error-riddled opening quarter, believing the Eagles deserved to notch an important 19-point home win over St Kilda on Saturday night.

The untidy Eagles were ambushed in the opening stages, with the Saints coming out firing after a week in the spotlight following their round one capitulation against Melbourne.

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St Kilda controlled the midfield war and led by 19 points at the first change, but should have been further ahead after squandering opportunities in front of goal.

West Coast won the next three quarters, grinding the Saints lead down to nine points at half-time and a solitary goal at the final change.

Star forward Josh Kennedy then stepped up with three last-quarter goals to secure West Coast's perfect 2-0 start to the year.

WATCH Adam Simpson's full media conference

"There's some games where you say you were lucky to get away with it or didn't deserve to win, but we won three quarters," Simpson said.

"But it was a grind and to come through in that last quarter was really pleasing.

"We've got a lot of work to do off the first quarter (after) basic turnovers.

"We knew St Kilda would put a lot of pressure on, that's in their DNA, and we knew that when they sustain it they're really hard to crack.

"It took us until the last 15 minutes.

"The damage was done in the first quarter but we hung in there and were reasonably happy with the last quarter's effort to get over the line and find a way to win."

Kennedy didn't register a possession until the 11-minute mark of the second term and only had three touches until three-quarter time before exploding into life.

The dual Coleman medallist finally shrugged-off Nathan Brown's attention to mark and goal twice to level the scores, before snapping truly from the pocket to extend West Coast's advantage following a Josh Hill goal.

"He's an A-grade player. I don't think the supply was there for him throughout the night really and that was a credit to St Kilda and what they were doing," Simpson said.

"The way we were moving the ball didn't help JK and in the last quarter we got a bit of supply and ascendancy out of the centre as well."

Simpson admitted some concerns with the Eagles' defence being exposed after conceding 93 and 97 points in the first two games.

"I think the one area we can improve is our defence, not necessarily our back six but our team defence," he said.

"Having said that, to concede the goals from our forward 50 stoppages, from kick-ins when they just go directly to opposition, they're fixable things.

"We're lucky it hasn't cost us a game in the first two rounds. They had more scoring shots tonight (32-26) but I still think we deserved to win."

Rejuvenated utility Elliot Yeo was outstanding in defence again for the Eagles with 25 possessions and 13 marks.

"Yeoy wants to redeem himself a little bit from last year," Simpson said.

WATCH: Yeo's aerial show

West Coast hits the road in round three to face Richmond the MCG on Saturday afternoon.