West Coast captain Shannon Hurn is confident his players won’t get carried away by the growing hype surrounding them as they prepare for next week’s home preliminary final.

The Eagles are just one win away from securing a spot in the AFL grand final after beating Collingwood by 16 points in Perth on Saturday night.

West Coast will play either Hawthorn or Melbourne in the preliminary final, and will start as warm favourites given the home-ground advantage.

The outside hype surrounding the Eagles has grown since the win over Collingwood, but Hurn is comfortable the players will be able to handle it.

“The hardest thing with footy is that every year there’s more and more external noise and interest in the game,” Hurn said.

“It’s a hard balancing act as a player, because you’re excited, but you can’t get caught up in the hype too much because you understand there’s a job to do.

“So it’s one of those things where you’ve got to enjoy it (while staying focused). It’s about what we expect inside the club, and that takes a bit of time to learn.

“But I think we’ve done that pretty well.”

West Coast are sweating on the fitness of defender Brad Sheppard, whose season could be over after he suffered what appeared to be a serious hamstring injury.

If Sheppard is ruled out of the preliminary final as expected, veteran defender Will Schofield is the frontrunner to earn a recall.

Eagles coach Adam Simpson said it was one of his hardest ever decisions to drop Schofield for the qualifying final, but he praised the 29-year-old for handling it well.

West Coast are playing in their fourth straight finals campaign, and Simpson says it has left them well placed to handle the pressure of big games and big moments.

The Eagles fielded four finals debutants against the Magpies.

Although Daniel Venables (seven disposals) and Tom Cole (five disposals) had quiet games, Liam Ryan and Willie Rioli shone in key moments.