West Coast has finally breathed some life into its faltering AFL season with an upset two-point win over a disappointing Geelong at Subiaco Oval.

The Cats, who had won seven of their past eight games to surge into top-four contention, were a shadow of the side that defeated Brisbane a fortnight ago, going down to the Eagles 7.9 (51) to 7.7 (49).

To make matters worse, Geelong's impressive young midfielder James Kelly suffered a suspected broken left leg when he clashed with West Coast's Brett Jones early in the first term.

Kelly was stretchered from the ground and taken to hospital, with the incident halting Geelong's momentum after the visitors had kicked the game's first two goals.

Leading at quarter time, Geelong managed just one goal through the second and third terms.

West Coast has had a hugely disappointing season, with five wins from 13 matches, punctuated by a limp effort in a crunch game against the Kangaroos last round.

But the Eagles managed to kick three goals to Geelong's solitary major in the second term, giving their loyal fans something to cheer about in a game they had to win to have any hope of featuring in the finals.

The Eagles slowly got on top through the midfield, while Geelong's forward line failed to fire throughout the match, with Gary Ablett the lone spark with two impressive first-half goals.

Ben Graham was ineffective at centre half-forward and was soon shifted into defence, but he was far from the only disappointment for the under-performing Cats who have slipped to 8-6.

Despite their largely disappointing year, the Eagles are just one game and percentage out of the top eight with a clash against Hawthorn at York Park to come next week.

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