Sydney coach John Longmire playfully joked he was fast losing his hair after watching his side sneak over the line against arch AFL rivals West Coast on Saturday night.

The Swans trailed West Coast by 12 points midway through a frantic final quarter before slamming home the final four goals of the match to snatch a fighting 13-point win, 15.11 (101) to 13.10 (88).

It was Sydney's third straight match to be decided in the dying minutes after their round one draw with Melbourne and last week's five-point win over Essendon.

Longmire, who was handed the reins at Sydney after Paul Roos stepped down at the end of last year, praised his team's composure under pressure in yet another epic struggle against the Eagles.

"It (my hairline) has just dropped right off," Longmire said with a laugh.

"It's been an interesting three weeks to say the least.

"I'm enjoying it when we've got our nose in front on the siren.

"I'm fortunate we've got a really good core group of players that have been experienced, who can do the right thing and dig in when they need to and stay composed.

"We've been in a few tight ones so they should have plenty of practice.

"I think the important thing is knowing they've got to play until the final siren through effort but also composure.

"I think that comes through senior players having a lot of practice, particularly against the Eagles in close games.

"(It's vital to) stay composed (and make sure) the effort's still high.

"I thought that was evident in the last 15 minutes today when we really maintained our composure when our hardness lifted."

Longmire said his team's 111-69 tackle count played a vital part in the win, with the coach also praising the match-winning efforts of Adam Goodes, Jude Bolton, Josh Kennedy and Andrejs Everitt.

"We had 111 tackles for the game which really kept us thereabouts," Longmire said.

"Then in the last quarter ... they just found a way and really dug in and put in when the game was on the line.

"It was just a really good performance."

Eagles coach John Worsfold said he couldn't fault his team's effort.

"We worked really hard all night to try and win the game and we couldn't win it but the effort was there for four quarters, no doubt about that," Worsfold said.

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