WEST Coast is steeling itself for a physical North Melbourne response in Saturday's clash at Optus Stadium, with coach Andrew McQualter warning his team that the Kangaroos have a track record this season of bouncing back from disappointing performances.

North was thrashed by Fremantle last Saturday in a "dreadful" 124-point loss that coach Alastair Clarkson said had left the team with a "little bit of shame" after conceding 19 consecutive goals.

ROUND 14 Get your seats to Kangaroos v Eagles

The Roos responded to their early-season loss to West Coast with a win against Essendon, while their round 10 thumping to Adelaide was backed up with an upset six-point win against Gold Coast.

After being beaten convincingly by Geelong in round eight, they pushed also Sydney to the line in a much-improved performance, with McQualter preparing for a determined opponent this week.

"We've done a little bit of research around every time they've had a loss this year, maybe a bad loss, and the way they've turned up the next week has been really quite fierce. So that's what our expectation is," the coach said.

"Every player has pride in performance and team, and I'm sure they'd be disappointed with their game last week. But the expectation is that we'll get a red-hot Kangaroos turn up on Saturday afternoon.

"Young teams like North and like us, we'll have ebbs and flows in our game. That's normal and what happens, but our expectation is North at their best."

Saturday's clash against the Eagles is the second leg of two 'home' games in WA for the Roos, who will be desperate to return to Melbourne with at least one win after selling a pair of matches interstate.

The team split its sold games 1-1 last season and could be helped to a degree this week by some injury concerns at West Coast, with star defender Reuben Ginbey (quad) sidelined and half-back Tom McCarthy (hamstring) in some doubt.

McQualter said the Eagles would work through their options to replace Ginbey later on Thursday, with gun recruit Brandon Starcevich an option to play taller after his club debut against the Power.

The coach said it would be important for the Eagles to have a team approach to covering Ginbey through their defensive system and pressure, which has grown into a strength over the past month.

"When you lose one of your best players and your best key defender, then it becomes a challenge. But we'll work our way through it," McQualter said.

"We've been relying a lot on our team defence the last six or eight weeks anyway, so we're going to lean into that space more and more.

"We need pressure on the ball as much as possible. If we don't get that, we're going to struggle. So that'll be our focus.

"It's going to be unfair just to put it on one person. It's going to be a team effort and a system defence."

Key defender Sandy Brock is another option in the WAFL for the Eagles to replace Ginbey, while McQualter highlighted co-captain Liam Duggan's ability to play as a third tall defender.

He said the option of sending key forward Jobe Shanahan into defence, where he played as a junior and has impressed at times as a swingman at AFL level, also had to be part of the match committee's discussions.

Midfielder Tom Gross has been impressive at WAFL level in a new half-forward role and will be in the selection mix on Thursday afternoon after kicking four goals in a win against ladder leader Claremont.

McQualter said the flexibility Gross was building into his game would be important at AFL level as he pushes to play his first game this season.

"Grossy's got some traits that we really like. He's working hard on his game. He's working hard on his running capacity, and he's put together a pretty consistent block of work now at WAFL level," the coach said.

"He's doing everything he can, and he's just got to wait for an opportunity now.

"I'm a huge believer in flexibility. The more positions guys can play, the more it can help our team and give them chances to play AFL football.

"So where Grossy ends up, I'm actually not sure. I think he's got capacity to be a midfielder, but also real capacity to be a forward as well.

"We'll keep finding the balance of what is best for him and the team."