WEST Coast coach Adam Simpson says there is no such thing as a free swing in a Grand Final and believes favouritism for the big game is overplayed.

The Eagles qualified for their first crack at the decider since 2006 with a hard-fought 25-point win over North Melbourne on Saturday night.

It caps a remarkable rise for the club under Simpson. The Eagles finished 13^th in 2013 in John Worsfold's last season as coach. They finished ninth in 2014 with 11 wins, Simpson's first year in charge. 

Few gave the Eagles much chance of making the finals in the pre-season and even fewer thought it was possible after starting the season 1-2 and losing experienced key defenders Eric Mackenzie and Mitch Brown to knee reconstructions. 

Now they face two-time defending premiers Hawthorn in the Grand Final. Only three Eagles who played in the preliminary final, Xavier Ellis, Sam Butler and Sharrod Wellingham, have played in a Grand Final while the Hawks are littered with two and three-time premiership players.

But Simpson dismissed the notion the Eagles have a free hit at the flag given how few people rated their chances pre-season. 

"No way," the coach said after West Coast had defeated North Melbourne in a competitive preliminary final. 

"There's no such thing as a free hit for a Grand Final. Please.

"Favouritism in Grand Finals and finals, I think it's overplayed. You have got to look at form and how the club has gone about it in the last eight weeks, and Hawthorn are experienced warriors.

"We've got to match that. I don't think we're going to fluke it. We'll have to earn every kick and handball that we can get next week."

One thing that is certainly not in the Eagles favour is their inexperience at the MCG. They have played there just once this season beating Richmond in round 12. But Simpson said it was not a major factor.  

"If you want to win a Grand Final, you have to win at the 'G," Simpson said.

"We'd love to play more games there. It just doesn't happen.

"It is what it is. We had a good win there this year when we beat Richmond on a Friday night, which was a significant win for the club. I wouldn't have thought I need to talk to the players too much about the ground."

Simpson said he had not thought too much about the Eagles' preparation for the Grand Final but he did say it would be good to have a training run on the MCG.

West Coast appeared to get through the preliminary final unscathed. Chris Masten was subbed out early in the last quarter but it was only to manage him as the midfielder had only played one quarter of football since round 20 after serving a two-match suspension and suffering a hamstring injury in round 23. 

Simpson was also relieved to get through after such a poor start against the Kangaroos. The Eagles gave the visitors a 20-point quarter-time lead and also kicked poorly for goal. Simpson was relieved his side got through in the end.

"We had more scoring shots, kicked lots of points," Simpson said.

"We couldn't work on goalkicking anymore. But there was a stage tonight where I thought it could have cost us the game."