Ross Lyon says West Coast's midfield is full of talent and they should not be discounted as a threat just because a couple of their key defenders have been sidelined for the season.
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The Fremantle coach does not even consider the loss of Scott Selwood to an ankle injury as a reason to believe the Eagles won't be more than competitive in the 41st Western Derby on Sunday.
The Dockers boss says the midfield clash is crucial to the contest and believes West Coast's running brigade is as talented and experienced as anyone's.
"There was a reason they were premiership favourites a few years ago. I know they've been diluted down the back half, but basically that midfield is there. So from our midfield, we understand we've got a significant challenge," he said.
"(Matthew) Priddis is a Brownlow medallist, Nic Nat(anui) is a star of the comp, (Sharrod) Wellingham is a premiership player brought over specifically, he's up and going now.
"You've got (Chris) Masten, (Andrew) Gaff is a star into his fourth, fifth year and they're running (Shannon) Hurn and (Brad) Sheppard through there... and you've got (Jamie) Cripps as a first-round draft pick.
"I know there's a lot of talk about our guys. And we're a very good midfield. They might have one young guy but the rest of them have been around for four, five or six years, which puts them in the elite category."
That West Coast midfield was out in force against Carlton last week. Priddis had 31 touches and five of the others had 20 possessions or more, including the "one young guy" Dom Sheed.
The result was clean delivery into the Eagles forward line and 10 goals from the boot of Josh Kennedy and four from Mark LeCras.
Fremantle's running brigade didn't have a bad weekend either. The Dockers gathered a massive 409 possessions in the 44-point win over Geelong to the Cats' 321.
Nat Fyfe, David Mundy and Michael Barlow each had more than 30 possessions – the latter two also kicking three goals each.
Stephen Hill also booted two but had an impressive 10 inside 50 entries and 29 possessions.
Lyon admitted that sharing the goal scoring load has been a focus for some time.
"Probably over the last 12 months to be truthful," he said.
"I think we averaged eight, the top four teams average nine.
"We had nine on the weekend – so you need a spread of goalkickers rather than rely on one and just through circumstance... we don't just rely on our forwards.
"If you move the ball well and pressure well, you will get opportunities for everyone and we did that on the weekend."
Fremantle ruckman Zac Clarke didn't train on Wednesday but Lyon said he remained optimistic he would play. Jon Griffin and Jack Hannath will come into contention for a spot if he doesn't.
Eagles coach Adam Simpson said Josh Hill and Tom Lamb were being considered to replace Simon Tunbridge, who has been sidelined for an extended period (listed as 12 weeks) with an ankle injury.
