There is no bigger challenge in the AFL than taking on Collingwood and West Coast’s players are looking forward to testing themselves against the best, coach Adam Simpson says.

The Magpies have flown west riding a seven-game winning streak that has propelled them a game clear on top of the ladder, while the injury-hit Eagles are sitting bottom following nine-consecutive defeats.

Saturday afternoon’s clash at Optus Stadium poses a massive task for the Eagles, but also an opportunity to learn from a team at the top of their game.

“Obviously it’s been a challenge throughout the year and this is probably the biggest one,” Simpson said.

“We know where we’re at and they know where they’re at. It’s going to be a pretty big challenge for us, but we saw some good signs last week at stages (against Essendon).

“Whilst we haven’t got any senior players back we get a chance to expose younger players again to a quality side and what we can learn off them.

“We also think there’s some areas there we can challenge Collingwood as well. We’ll see how we go but the guys are looking forward to it.”

Ahead of Dom Sheed's 150^th game on Saturday, fittingly against the Pies, Simpson paid tribute to the loping left footer who has etched his name into footy folklore and grown into a leader around the club. 

“We have a little bit of a bond. My first year he was the first draft pick. He’s been around 10-odd years. He was playing reserves football in ’18 and finished off the year pretty well,” Simpson said.

“He’s been great for the club. He’s a leader. Playing 150 games for us and he’s an Eagle for life.”

The Eagles have recalled ruck-forward Callum Jamieson in their only change, with the big man bouncing back after being left out of the Essendon match and performing well at WAFL level.

Mid-season draftee Ryan Maric will line-up for the WAFL Eagles at Swan Districts on Sunday, completing a whirlwind week for the Gippsland youngster.

The mid-sized forward trained with the Eagles on Friday morning, showcasing his good hands and quality skills.

“He’s already connected with our young guys – our list is getting pretty young pretty quick – I think they all met him at the airport yesterday and he’ll play WAFL this week,” Simpson said.

“We used the (mid-season) draft for the future. We can try and scramble and get some players to top up and try and help us now, but where we’re at we are thinking longer-term.”

Simpson moved to clarify the rules around the mid-season draft, with the Eagles only allowed to take one selection given only Jai Culley (ACL) is medically ruled out for 2023.

“You can only get extra selections if they’re (injured players) unavailable for the season – and none of ours are,” Simpson said.

“(Tom) Coley, (Jamie) Cripps, (Jeremy) McGovern, (Jack) Darling … they all trained today. It was the first time I’ve seen them on the track.

“I think there was five guys there who all trained. Now it’s a matter of getting the fitness piece together and I would’ve thought after the bye, first few weeks – round 16, 17, 18 – all those guys should be playing.”

Star ruck Nic Naitanui has been ill this week and unable to continue his rehab program at the club as he works through Achilles soreness that is remaining stubbornly slow to heal.

“I haven’t seen him for this week. It’s been slow going. We haven’t got over the hurdle we need to get over to get to the next phase,” Simpson said.

“I suppose you can call that a setback – it’s just not getting to the next level. It’s hard you a timeline. Until we get over this piece we can’t move forward.

“It’s been a tough six years (for him), really, and in that six years he’s won two best and fairests. When he’s available he’s still a very, very good player.

“When he’s fit and available he’s competition’s best.

“Our goal was to try and get him back to that level but at the moment we just can’t get it right to the point where he can take the next step.”