West Coast has taken St Kilda's destiny out of the Saints' hands after overcoming a 28-point deficit to record a thrilling eight-point victory in a gripping encounter at Telstra Dome on Friday night.

Propelled by a five-goal haul by Quinten Lynch, the Eagles, who were unable to match the Saints' manic desperation early, grabbed the lead for the first time in the night deep in the third quarter then had to withstand one more charge by the Saints before winning 16.10 (106) to 14.14 (98).

The loss was a devastating blow to the finals hopes of the Saints, who will begin round 22 out of the eight. They now need to beat Richmond and have other results fall their way to feature in the finals.

The win also came at a cost for the Eagles, who had key forward Ashley Hansen hobble off the field with a hamstring injury with less than five minutes remaining in the game.

Trailing by 17 points early in the last term, it took a Mark Le Cras goal with two seconds remaining to finally kill off the Saints, who were brilliant in the first term but tired late in the game.

Lynch, Matt Priddis and Ben Cousins were the keys to the Eagles' win. Lynch, in arguably the best game of his career, not only kicked five goals but set up his team-mates in a powerful display, while Priddis and Cousins dominated the midfield in the second half.

For the Saints, Nick Riewoldt was again their best player, outrunning Adam Hunter for 13 marks and four goals, though to Hunter's credit the Eagle was not beaten in a genuine one-on-one marking contest.

The Saints left the Eagles floundering in the intensity stakes early, tackling with purpose and playing with a selflessness which would have brought a smile to Ross Lyon's face.

The normally brilliant Eagles midfield was cut to shreds by the Saints.

While the Saints led by 28 points at quarter time, their return of 5.5 was perhaps one or two goals below what their dominance of general play deserved.

Within 10 minutes in the second term, the Eagles had jagged three to reduce the margin to just eight points, but up stepped Riewoldt.

The inspirational skipper converted coolly from long range to snap the Eagles' three-goal run, created a crumb for Aaron Fiora, who snapped truly, then booted another from 50 out in time-on.

Meanwhile, it was only the efficiency of the Eagles' forwards or to be more specific Lynch - who goaled and set up one for Le Cras - which ensured the margin was not greater than 22 points at the long break.

Like they did in the second term, the Eagles charged at the Saints early in the third.

Hitherto quiet, Cousins started to break the hard tag of Jason Blake, while Priddis, symbolic of the change in momentum in the match, wrested the title of the game's most influential midfielder from his direct opponent Hayes.

And in attack, Lynch was again in the thick of the action. Despite spending time on the bench, the towering forward had a hand in three of the Eagles' five goals in the third quarter.

Having grabbed the lead for the first time in the night just prior to the final change, the Eagles appeared to have overcome St Kilda when they kicked their fifth on the trot to