West Coast’s eight-point win over St Kilda at Optus Stadium has come at a price with star forward Liam Ryan joining the injury list and expected to be sidelined for three weeks.

The Eagles followed up last week’s win over Adelaide with a 14.10 (94) to 13.8 (86) win but lost Ryan to a hamstring injury after he kicked a goal midway through the first quarter.

West Coast’s have battled injuries all year and rarely got their best players on the field together.

Coach Adam Simpson said the run of soft tissue injuries was difficult to stop mid-year.

“It sounds like it might be just a standard hamstring (for Ryan),” Simpson said.

“It is hard to get off that hamster wheel when you’re starting to get players returning and then you lose a couple. Then the match fitness and synergy and connectivity with our group hasn’t been as pure as perhaps it hasn’t been in the past.

“We’re not alone. A lot of clubs go through it. It’s really hard to get out of it. You need to have two or three weeks of clean, no injuries to get everyone up to speed.

“We just haven’t seemed to be able to do that. But that’s the game.

“We need to keep fighting on. It’s great exposure for our younger players. If we keep winning, hopefully we can get everyone back before the end of the year.

“We’ve got to look into it I suppose. It’s a double six-day break.

“With the pre-season, a lot of our A-graders had significant time off during the off-season so they come back mid-season. I think it’s harder than ever to come back from a long-term injury and hit the ground running.”

West Coast set up the win with six goals in the second term, Dom Sheed dominant in the midfield and both Josh Kennedy and Jack Darling combining for six goals. The win kept the Eagles in seventh place ahead of their next clash against Collingwood.

Max King was outstanding for St Kilda with six goals from eight contested marks in a break out performance.

“It was a great display from a young forward,” St Kilda coach Brett Ratten said.

“We know he has talent. He still has work to do. That was a snapshot of what he’s capable of. He’s going to be a very good player

“That should give him some confidence, to get that many shots on goal and converting. Just his aerial stuff was very good.”