There's categorically no way Fremantle's future looks better than the Eagles at this current point in time, so maybe we should actually wrap up Brendan Foster (or Foster the tosser as one Facebook commenter kindly contributed) in a straight jacket and ship him off somewhere (his suggestion, not mine).

Yes, the Eagles have lost their past two games and yes, the Dockers finally shook the Owen off their back with two consecutive wins but, let's pause there for a second.

Fremantle beat Essendon and Brisbane - clearly, on performances this year, the two worst teams in the competition.

John Worsfold admitted after the loss to the Dockers the Bombers "were below AFL level" so beating them is nothing to celebrate.

And, the Lions are so bad some pundits have been calling on the AFL to give them the No. 1 national draft pick, even if the Bombers finish last.

The Eagles lost narrowly at Etihad Stadium to the red-hot Western Bulldogs, who have won 15 of their past 17 matches there, then had a last-quarter capitulation that saw them slump to a disappointing defeat at home to a finals-bound Adelaide outfit.

Both the Dogs and the Crows will play finals this year and both are very much in contention to finish in the top four.

So to say the fortunes of the Eagles and Dockers have reversed after the last two games is completely ridiculous.

Foster the tosser (sorry mate that nickname's going to stick) says Fremantle have unearthed a number of potential superstars in the last few weeks in Connor Blakely, Lachie Weller, Matt Taberner and Darcy Tucker.

Looking past the assertion that one or two good games can make someone a potential superstar (Bradd Dalziell and Mark McGough anyone?), the Dockers' lack of game time for these youngsters up until this season has actually held their development back, whereas the Eagles have been willing to give their kids a go since day one.

What did Fremantle do when they drafted their "potential superstars" in Weller and Blakely?

They let them languish in the reserves for a season.

Weller played three games last year, two as the sub and one in the rest-fest that was the Dockers' round 23 thumping by Port Adelaide, while Blakely - along with Brady Grey and Ethan Hughes - only played once for Fremantle last year, in that Port game.

Ed Langdon, another of the Dockers' promising youngsters, played just two games last season while Matt Taberner was in and out of the side like a yo-yo and wore the old sub's red vest no less than eight times.

When the Eagles drafted a couple of potential superstars, in Andrew Gaff and Jack Darling, they played them from the get-go.

Of all the players drafted in 2010 only triple premiership heroes Isaac Smith and Paul Puopolo have played more AFL games than Andrew Gaff (121 games) and Jack Darling is fourth on this same list for games played behind Shaun Atley (yes, I was surprised at this too) with 117.

To use more recent examples, both Dom Sheed and Liam Duggan have played consistently for the Eagles since being drafted in 2013 and 2014 respectively.

And, Adam Simpson found a way to slot Tom Cole in to the side against Gold Coast because he was deserving of a place due to his WAFL form while Jackson Nelson (one of the few guys currently playing well at East Perth) has also played 15 games since being drafted last year.

I'm not so one-eyed to think that the Eagles are genuine premiership threat any more (that thought has died in the last two weeks) but, I'm also not so pessimistic to think West Coast will miss the finals.

In the next few weeks we have the triple bye - Brisbane away, the actual bye and then Essendon at Domain Stadium (hello percentage boost) - which should see us with a 9-5 record heading into the final third of the season.

Then we face four very winnable fixtures (North Melbourne and Melbourne at home and Carlton and Collingwood away) before the second derby of the year which means, even with Nic Naitanui on the sidelines, we could easily be sitting on 12 or 13 wins heading into a tough finish to the year.

A trip to Spotless Stadium, a home clash against Hawthorn and a trip to Adelaide to take on the Crows is a very tough finish to the year but, no-one outside the top-eight is banging down the door so it still seems very likely West Coast will play finals.

And, while it's true that no-one has won the premiership from outside the top-four in the current finals system, Port Adelaide in 2014 and North Melbourne last year have shown it's not beyond the realms of possibility to cause an upset in a preliminary final.

At least if the Eagles make the finals they will have some chance of winning. When most of your team is sitting in Bali sipping cocktails in September, there's absolutely no chance of premiership glory.

But, just to be thorough, here are five more reasons why the Eagles are in better shape than the Dockers heading forward.

1. The ageing Dockers stars

Three of the Dockers five most important players (Aaron Sandilands, David Mundy and Michael Johnson) are over 30. You can also add to the over-30s club: Matthew Pavlich (in his last season), Jonathan Griffen (the next best ruck on the Dockers list behind Sandilands), Zac Dawson (Freo's first choice fullback) and Danyle Pearce (still best 22).

The only player over 30 on the Dockers list who wouldn't have been in Fremantle's best 22 at the start of this season is Tendai Mzungu.

At just 24, Nathan Fyfe is a player you can build a team around but, if the 23-year-old Lachie Neale leaves then the one player who's shown genuine star quality under the age of 24 hasn't even played a game for them yet (Harley Bennell).

Meanwhile, only one of the Eagles five most important players (Matt Priddis) is over 30.

In fact West Coast only has one other 30-plus player in Sam Butler who it seems likely will likely be phased out for Tom Cole in the coming seasons. Josh Kennedy and Eric MacKenzie are the next oldest key Eagles at 28 while the rest of West Coast's gun players, including arguably our most important in Nic Naitanui, are 26 or younger.

2. The ruck dilemma

My first point segues nicely into my second. The number one ruckman and his main understudy on the Dockers list are 33 and 30 respectively.

For years Eagles and Dockers fans would fiercely debate who was the more valuable asset out of Aaron Sandilands and Dean Cox, but now the question of which club has a better ruck division going forward is not even a debate.

After Sandilands and Griffen, Fremantle's ruck depth drops off sharply with the out-of-favour Zac Clarke and inexperienced Jack Hannath the only two other listed ruckmen on the Dockers list. If Fremantle wants to bounce back to being competitive again going forward it's going to need to trade for, or unearth, another number one ruckman.

Eagles fans might be bitter at the club trading Callum Sinclair to Sydney last year, but in the 26-year-old Naitanui, the 23-year-old (yes, I also though he was older than that) Lycett and the 28-year-old Jonathan Giles, West Coast looks set in this department for at least another four seasons.

Also Naitanui, up until suffering an achilles injury which will see him miss the next two months, has been in career best form this season and the same could be said of Lycett as evidenced by "Foster the tosser" naming him in his blind All-Australian team last week.

3. The Eagles forward line

Sure Mark LeCras and Jack Darling couldn't score in a brothel on the east coast of the country.

But, if you had a choice between the Eagles' starting forward line next year (Josh Kennedy, Jack Darling, Mark LeCras, Jamie Cripps, Josh Hill and Elliot Yeo) and the Dockers (Matt Taberner, Chris Mayne, Michael Walters, Hayden Ballantyne, Ed Langdon and Hayden Crozier), I know who I'd be picking.

The Dockers might have the advantage on the ground, and in Michael Walters they have a genuine quality small forward (ironically one of the areas West Coast is lacking), but Josh Kennedy is better than all of the Dockers' talls combined so it's no contest.

4. The case for the defence

The Dockers best defender ... retired last year (Luke McPharlin). And, their second best defender (Michael Johnson) is 32 this season with a body that's falling apart. Sure, Sam Collins and Darcy Tucker have shown a couple of good signs and Alex Pearce looks a long-term player but combined they've played a total of 28 games.

Jeremy McGovern, who's played almost double that, is up there with the best intercept marks in the game, Eric McKenzie was in the best couple of key defenders in the competition before he went down with an ACL last year and then there's the captain Shannon Hurn (arguably the best kick in the competition) and unsung Brad Sheppard who was one of the best one-on-one defenders in the league last year.

Once again when you compare the two line-ups, once you factor in the retirements of Johnson and Butler, there's a pretty clear choice as to which group I'd pick going forwards.

West Coast: Will Schofield, Eric MacKenzie, Shannon Hurn, Brad Sheppard, Jeremy McGovern, Sharrod Wellingham

Fremantle: Lee Spurr, Sam Collins, Tom Sheridan, Darcy Tucker, Alex Pearce, Garrick Ibbotson

5. The head honcho

After a relatively unassuming first season in charge of the Eagles, Adam Simpson proved last year he has the tactical nous to come up with a new gameplan to adapt to changing circumstances (in this case injuries to most of the Eagles key defenders) when he produced the "Weagles Web".

This was so successful it saw West Coast make an unlikely grand final appearance, where it fell short against arguably the best team of the modern era.

Meanwhile Ross Lyon's coaching career has seen a consistent game style based on manic defensive pressure, midfield zone defence and pushing numbers behind the ball.

This served him well at St Kilda and in his first seasons at Fremantle with Lyon reaching four grand finals.

However, the new interchange cap and deliberate out-of-bounds rule has nullified that kind of game style and Lyon's attempt at changing things this season, to try and score more goals, has ended in an unmitigated disaster.

I'd back the innovative Simpson to get the Eagles back on track and in contention more than the stuck-in-his-ways Lyon to rebuild (I'll call it that even if he won't) the Dockers.