A heart-to-heart talk between Barry Hall and the Sydney coaching staff led to the big forward returning to his damaging best in Saturday night's season-saving victory over West Coast at ANZ Stadium.

Hall was being written off as a fading star past his prime after having zero impact against Geelong last week, when he was held to five touches and no goals in a 51-point hiding.

But the 32-year-old showed there was still some gas left in the tank with a starring role in Sydney's five-point victory over the Eagles.

He only had six kicks and no handballs, but it resulted in five straight goals as the Swans snuck home to improve their record to 4-4.

Hall also showed plenty of willingness to defend and, after struggling with a groin injury early in the season, coach Paul Roos said Hall is now the fittest he has been in years.

"We said to him 'we're not worried about marks, kicks, handballs or goals, you're a better player when you tackle and chase'," Roos said of a chat between himself, Hall and assistant coaches John Longmire and John Blakey.

"I think he set us off with our first or second goal, then he chased down (Darren) Glass at the 30-minute mark of the last quarter, which was just an unbelievable effort.

"He's very fit and looked so quick at the end of the game and hasn't been able to reproduce that speed for probably a couple of years so it should be a real positive for him.

"He was a very, very significant player over the course of the game. He kicked some great goals, some really telling goals.

"It was probably the best he's kicked for goal for a couple of years as well."

The result continued a remarkable rivalry between the two teams, with eight of their past 10 clashes decided by less than a goal.

Both Roos and West Coast counterpart John Worsfold were at a loss to explain the consistently tight tussles between the two.

"It's sending me and Roosy grey. We're playing each other too many times," Worsfold said.

"They are always played in great spirit I think and there's a lot of respect between a lot of the senior players who have played in finals against each other especially.

"It's just one of those things in sport you can't explain."

West Coast slipped to 3-5 with the defeat, but Worsfold said finals football remains their goal.

"Of course it is. We don't give up. We're going to keep fighting."

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