West Coast coach Adam Simpson says the Eagles are under no illusions about their place in the competition. 

The Eagles have started the season 9-3 to sit only second to cross-town rivals Fremantle. 

A situation which seemed improbable when they lost key defenders Eric McKenzie and Mitch Brown before the start of the season.

Speaking on 6PR’s Sports Today, Simpson said their are ten teams fighting for seven spots and they are just lucky to be sitting atop that group at the moment. 

‘Our players and our coaches all realise that … we’re two games off top and we’re two games off ninth,’ Simpson said. 

‘It can change really quick, we’re definitely not getting ahead of ourselves.’