COLLINGWOOD coach Craig McRae has lauded his team's depth and ability to maintain an attacking brand without key senior players after securing a wildcard place on Sunday night.

The Magpies selected their youngest team in more than two years after losing five key players to injury, but their system held up under pressure, beating a spirited West Coast team by 19 points at Optus Stadium.

Collingwood has won seven of its past eight games and lifted its scoring power through that period, kicking its second highest score of the season on Sunday in a performance that McRae said highlighted the belief and fight within his squad.

"This group continually just turns up and fights for the jumper, and you saw that in the last bit where (Jack) Crisp gets his fingernail on a ball that's on the goal line," McRae said.

"Or young (Liam) Puncher going back with the ball and putting his body on the line with two or three minutes to go.

"This group fights, fights for the jumper, fights for each other. So that's a belief that's been built over the whole year.

"It's a big win. It's the youngest team we've picked in the last two to three years, and it just shows us some depth and guys that really want to play for the jumper and for our fans."

McRae said De Goey (glute) and Pendlebury (calf) would both be a chance to take on Hawthorn next Saturday, but the Magpies were likely to be undermanned for the next couple of weeks.

The coach paid tribute to Brownlow Medal favourite Nick Daicos after another supreme performance, with the midfielder fighting through a tag and physical treatment to finish with 39 disposals, 10 clearances and 11 inside 50s.

"He's that diligent and professional in his game, and his desire to win, we want to follow that," McRae said.

"He just drags players with him at times, and his work rate is enormous.

"Young people watching at home today or watching live would have seen how hard he works, and his game's gone to another level. He takes us to places that we want to get to."

West Coast coach Andrew McQualter described Daicos as "extraordinary" after his performance and said the midfielder was clearly the best player on the ground and in the competition.

The coach backed tagger Brady Hough, however, and pondered how much damage Daicos might have done if the Eagles hadn't attempted to lock down on him from the start.

"I don't think there's anyone close to him at the moment. He was the best player on the ground today. He was amazing. But I actually thought 'Houghy' did a reasonable job," McQualter said.

"He didn't play full game time on him. There were periods of the game where Houghy was off, and Nick got off the chain a little bit.

"He actually kept him to 67 per cent disposal efficiency, which is a little bit lower for Nick. If you don't tag him, it's probably at 100. But he was too good today and a large part of why they won."

The Eagles' own star midfielder, Harley Reid, was forced to play through a painful corked leg after a hit from Darcy Cameron in the first quarter that left the onballer hampered as he battled a tag from Ed Allan.

McQualter said Reid's ability to push through and influence the match with a team-high 30 disposals – including a career-high 23 handballs – was testament to his strength as a player.

"I thought he was so tough. He obviously got hindered pretty early, maybe even a couple of times, but his contest work was just amazing as the game went on," McQualter said.

"He probably lacked maybe a touch of power to be able to get out of the tackles today, or Collingwood tackled well.

"But his ability just to put himself in the spot over and over. We moved him forward in the last quarter and he looked pretty threatening at times as well, just couldn't quite finish it.

"But again, a huge step forward for the young man."

Ultimately, it was another honourable loss for the Eagles in a run of nine straight defeats, but they showed improvement with attacking handball chains and kicked their second highest score of the season.

McQualter said there was disappointment in the results but encouraged fans and critics to look deeper into the team's growth this season.

"It's a little bit hard to see a huge amount of light because we're not winning games. And believe me, I'm the worst at this," the coach said.

"But if you just lift your eyes a little bit, there's a fair bit to like about this team, what they're doing, the young players in the team and the growth.

"If you're a West Coast Eagles fan, you should be gutted we're not winning because that's what we're trying to do.

"But hopefully you can just lift your eyes a little bit and see the way these guys are playing and the young players in particular. There's going to be some really exciting times ahead for us."