West Coast coach Andrew McQualter could not guarantee star Harley Reid would be fit to play in Friday night’s blockbuster western derby after he played through an injured ankle in the 24-point defeat to Brisbane.

The Eagles will have to back up against the premiership favourites and cross-town rivals Fremantle off only a six-day break on the back of their spirited 13.15 (93) to 10.9 (69) defeat to the Lions at Optus Stadium on Saturday night.

All eyes will be on Reid this week after he injured his ankle in the first quarter when it was stepped on by Brisbane backman Noah Answerth and further hurt when he slipped on a step in front of the bench.

The 21-year-old spent more than 20 minutes on the sidelines but returned to the field early in the second quarter to be amongst his team’s best with 23 touches and a game-high 10 clearances.

“He obviously had an incident where he got pushed or the free kick; I’m not exactly sure of the details of what happened. He came off, he ran off OK, and then he had a sore ankle, so they had to do some work to get it going again,” McQualter said.

“It took a bit of time, but in the end, he was able to come back on and really, I thought, compete quite well for the rest of the game.”

Asked if he was 100 per cent confident that Reid would be able to tackle to the ladder-leading Dockers, McQualter said: “You’re never 100 per cent confident because he’s had something and had to get some work done.

“We’re just going to have to see how he pulls up. It’s obviously pleasing that he was able to play (out) the game, but in the next couple of days we’ll find out.”

For the third consecutive week, the Eagles have taken it up to a finals-bound side but fallen short of an elusive fifth victory for the year.

McQualter said he could not help but feel “pretty flat” after his side were unable to claim the four points once again.

“I feel like our guys are putting everything in at the moment and they’re having a real crack and I am flat for them that we’re not getting the outcomes that we want,” he said.

“The way we competed tonight, we made the game challenging for Brisbane I think for large periods of the game.

“It was an arm-wrestle for periods of the game, and we just couldn’t quite take some opportunities where we had some good looks.

“They had some parts of the game that they were pretty dominant in, and they challenged us. But overall they’re one of the most form teams in the competition; we gave ourselves a chance to win, which is what we’re trying to do, and we’re trying to win every game.

“We’re in a position now to try to take some scalps; that’s what we’re aiming for. And we fell short again, but I think we built some belief in what we’re doing.”