Front-rower Jake Ilnicki (neck), second-rower Richard Stanford (elbow) and No.8 Stephen Hoiles (eye socket) all came from the field in the second half of the contest, which saw the Western Australians rally from a 22-point deficit to almost pinch an unlikely victory.

The win enabled the Eagles to secure second place on the competition ladder, setting up a home semi-final against Brisbane City at Gosford this Saturday.

“It was a big win for us, particularly because we were down on troops a bit late, but there’s still some things we need to work on,” Eagles coach Darren Coleman said after the match.

“Perth probably had the better of the general play, but we were able to capitalise on their mistakes and score some good long-range tries.

“We'll take the win and look forward to next week, but we’ve got some injuries. Thankfully we'll also have some guys coming back for the semi-final that weren't available tonight.”

With a solid crowd firmly in their corner, the Eagles got off to the best possible start when flanker Will Miller opened the scoring off a Perth mistake inside the first 30 seconds of the match.

It set the tone for an enterprising match in which the home side was never headed but almost threw it away.

Perth peppered the Country line for 10 minutes following the opening try but couldn’t cross and were left to rue their missed chances when the Eagles piled on tries through Tala Grey and Miller in an eight-minute period to take a 24-0 lead after just 23 minutes.

Prop Chris Heiberg eventually opened the scoring for the visitors in the 28th minute, with Luke Burton's conversion bringing the margin back to 16 and that's where things remained up until half-time.

Perth were back in the contest when winger Va'a Mailei scored eight minutes into the second stanza, and the teams traded tries from that point to the 64th minute when Eagles fullback Darcy Etrich finished off an 80-metre play set up by winger Andrew Kellaway to help the Country side to a 40-18 lead.

But as they have done a couple of times previously in the competition, the Eagles surrendered late points.

Replacement Michael Ruru scored out wide with six minutes remaining and bagged his double just three minutes later to drag the margin back to six with three minutes left on the clock.

With the momentum firmly behind them, Perth had one last opportunity down on the Eagles line and attacked with numerous phases, but when they conceded a penalty while in possession with just seconds left on the clock their effort came to nothing.

“It was disappointing to lose but I've got to give my boys credit for the way they stuck at it,” Spirit coach Kevin Foote said.

“We've had a pretty hectic 48 hours with travel, having flown from Perth to Sydney and then caught a bus to Dubbo, but that's not an excuse.

“Country were able to make us pay for a few lapses, so for us to almost pinch the win there at the end, while it was disappointing, shows the character of the boys we have in our group.”

NSW COUNTRY EAGLES 40 (Will Miller 2, Tala Gray, Brendan McKibbin, Darcy Etrich tries; Sam Windsor 5 conversions) def PERTH SPIRIT 34 (Michael Ruru 2, Chris Heiberg, Va'a Mailei, Robbie Abel tries; Zack Holmes 2, Luke Burton conversions).