West Coast's emergence as an AFL power continued with a thrilling eight-point win over ladder-leaders Geelong at Patersons Stadium on Friday night.

Just two weeks after dismantling fellow premiership fancies Carlton, the Eagles piled on nine unanswered goals either side of quarter time and survived a fierce Geelong fightback to post the 14.12 (96) to 13.10 (88) victory in front of 40,164 fans.

West Coast led by 40 points when Luke Shuey kicked truly 17 minutes into the second quarter, but Geelong booted the first four goals of the second half to cut the margin to just 10 points.

Geelong forward James Podsiadly had the chance to cut the margin to just three points with 28 seconds remaining, but his snap on goal hit the post.

West Coast's 10th win of the season lifted them to equal on points with Hawthorn in the top four, while Geelong's second loss on the trot is almost certain to see them fall from top spot by the end of the round.

Collingwood, who have played two games less than Geelong, will surge to top spot with a win over North Melbourne on Sunday.

Geelong simply had no answers to West Coast's unrelenting pressure in the first half, continually turning the ball over to gift the Eagles easy goals.

Josh Hunt was the main culprit in the first half, with his mistakes leading directly to two Eagles goal.

West Coast dominated general play during the opening term but their inability to convert their chances allowed Geelong to skip away to a 16-point lead courtesy of two goals to Podsiadly.

But the Eagles' impressive pressure eventually paid dividends as the home side slammed through four goals in the space of nine minutes to take a 10-point lead into quarter-time.

Two bits of play from Mark Nicoski summed up the topsy-turvy quarter.

Eagles coach John Worsfold was left shaking his head in frustration after watching Nicoski miss an absolute sitter from just 20m out late in the quarter.

But the Eagles forward made amends just minutes later, shrugging off a weak Taylor Hunt tackle before booting a remarkable banana goal from the pocket.

The quarter-time break failed to halt West Coast's momentum as the Eagles piled on the first five goals of the second term, with Geelong coach Chris Scott labelling his side's performance as "terrible" when interviewed at half-time.

Scott no doubt unleashed some harsh words on his charges during the break because Geelong shot out of the blocks in the third term with four unanswered goals to cut the deficit to 10 points.

But just as it seemed Geelong would come over the top, West Coast's big guns stood tall, with Andrew Embley's goal from the pocket sealing the win.

"Our first half was really bad, theirs was really good," Geelong coach Chris Scott said.

"It's a little bit of a disturbing trend (following on from last week's loss to Essendon).

"I'm not sure two weeks is enough of a trend. But we kicked a few goals early, looked OK. and then didn't do enough to stop their momentum."

Eagles ruckman Nic Naitanui could come under some scrutiny from the match review panel for a clumsy front-on hit against Geelong's Taylor Hunt early in the second quarter.

West Coast coach John Worsfold said he didn't see the incident but was proud of his team's fighting spirit.

"(The most pleasing aspect was) holding on to win with Geelong really throwing everything at us in that second half," Worsfold said.

"You could say it was a fairly even game at three-quarter time and the composure the boys showed through the last quarter I thought was great."

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