Injury-crippled West Coast will be forced to rely on their most inexperienced backline of the season to rein in a white-hot St Kilda outfit tomorrow.
With captain Darren Glass (thigh), Adam Hunter (knee/shoulder), Brett Jones (knee) and Beau Waters (elbow) unavailable for selection, 22-year-old Beau Wilkes, 20-year-old Eric Mackenzie and 21-year-old Matt Spangher will hold down key posts in defence.
Between them, the trio have just 12 AFL games to their name. Wilkes is the most "experienced" with eight games.
St Kilda enter the clash on a four-game winning streak with star forward Nick Riewoldt in dominant form.
In the past four rounds, Riewoldt has averaged 23.5 possessions, 13.5 marks and more than three goals per match.
Eagles coach John Worsfold said either Wilkes, Mackenzie or Spangher - or a mix of all three - would get the job on Riewoldt.
"They've all got capabilities in that they're good runners as well, and that's one of the big things about playing on Riewoldt," Worsfold said.
"(It's) another great challenge and great opportunity for them that they wouldn't have gotten otherwise.
"Wilkes had a run with (Jonathan) Brown at times last week and Mackenzie had (Daniel) Bradshaw, so we are comfortable giving them those challenges.
"That's the best learning curve, to play at senior level and to play on the best players. It's invaluable."
The Eagles have made four changes to the side that lost to Brisbane last week, recalling retiring veteran Michael Braun, Steven Armstrong, Mark Seaby and Spangher at the expense of Josh Kennedy (knee), Glass (thigh), Tim Houlihan (omitted) and Ryan Davis (omitted).
St Kilda have made just the one change to the team that beat Hawthorn, with former Eagle Michael Gardiner replacing the suspended Justin Koschitzke.
