Subiaco’s premiership defence has a heartbeat, but shaking off a winless West Coast was not as easy as they expected.

The Lions claimed their fourth win of the season to keep in touch with the top five, defeating the Eagles 14.6 (90) to 8.14 (62) at Optus Stadium on Saturday.

It was not a convincing performance from the once powerhouse side though, with the Eagles’ lack of talls because of injuries and AFL duties keeping the underdogs from causing an upset.

Subiaco’s efficiency was the difference, with West Coast winning their fair share of the ball, evidenced by the fact they won the inside 50 count 48-45.

The Lions had no trouble in front of goals, with in-form forward Ryan Borchet booting five goals, while Liam Hickmott was a standout in the middle with 30 disposals and 13 clearances.

West Coast were that short of key position players that forward Jack Williams and defender Josh Rotham to share the ruck duties.

Rotham (20 disposals and 21 hit-outs) held his own well against Sandover medallist Lachlan Delahunty (27 and 14), but it left them without a strong forward structure.

Lions veteran defender Angus Dewar took advantage of a lack of suitable match-up to influence a number of contests and stop the Eagles from finding easy scoring opportunities.

West Coast’s lack of quality forward target was evident early, with the Eagles unable to kick a goal in the first term despite having 12 inside 50s.

After a rough first quarter, both sides put forward some champagne football, with three goals coming from quick centre clearances.

It soon went back into a grind, with the Lions able to keep the undermanned Eagles at bay thanks to the quality touch of forwards Borchet and Ben Sokol (two goals).

West Coast were taking it up to the reigning premiers with their attack on the footy.

Eagles mid-season draftee Jai Culley was impressive in just his second game of senior footy with 20 disposals, six clearances, five tackles and six inside 50s, while Alex Witherden (32 disposals and 16 marks) did a power of work out of defence.

When Isiah Winder kicked the first goal of the second half it looked as if West Coast could cause an upset and win their first game of the season.

Subiaco shut the door on any hopes of an Eagles’ victory with four goals on the trot leading into the final break to push their advantage out to 29 points.

West Coast continued to challenge the Lions, but every time they looked like they could challenge, Subiaco responded with an important goal to claim the vital premiership points.

SCOREBOARD

SUBIACO 3.1, 7.3, 11.3, 14.6 (90)

WEST COAST 0.3, 4.6, 5.10, 8.14 (62)

Goals – SUBIACO: R Borchet 5 J Robbins 2 B Sokol 2 N Ash C Harris G Savigni L Vanirsen M Walters. WEST COAST: J Eastough M Henderson J Johnstone D McCarthy A Ryan J Williams I Winder L Young.

Best – SUBIACO: R Borchet L Hickmott L Delahunty A Dewar M Walters D Rohde. WEST COAST: J Rotham J Browne J Culley A Witherden E Hansen M Henderson.

Injuries – WEST COAST: L Feeney (ankle) J Kemp and J Levien replaced in the selected side by A Witherden and L Foley (AFL).

Umpires: T McPhee C Mannix C Jones. Crowd: About 150 at Optus Stadium.