Senior Coach Mark Harvey has encouraged his charges to “throw whatever they can at the game” when Fremantle tackle West Coast in Carlton Mid Derby 26 on Sunday.

Speaking to the media alongside Eagles coach John Worsfold on Thursday, Harvey said matches between the two sides were as big an event as clashes between traditional rivals Essendon and Collingwood and encouraged his players to rise to the occasion.

“They (derbies) are every bit as big as an ANZAC Day,” Harvey said.

“The build up is enormous, more so here because of the focus on the two teams and the history of the two teams.

“You like to find out if your playing group can perform in big time footy – whether it’s kids, whether it’s older players – whoever it is.

“Sometimes it will be games like this that you actually find a player, long term.

“I will be asking the players to throw whatever they can at the game, within the rules.”

One area Harvey hopes to see his players step up will be combating West Coast’s decorated midfield of Daniel Kerr, Chris Judd and Ben Cousins.

Harvey said it would take a whole team approach to canvas the trio and restrict their influence.

“They’re elite players,” Harvey said.

“They are what we classify as ‘A Grade’ players and we’ve got to find the guys that can withstand that as a group or in fact expose that. It will depend on the momentum of the game.

“It’s a challenge to the whole team. Some of these guys can cover the whole length of the ground in about a 30 second period so they can run past 15 players. So at times it’s not going to be their direct opponent.”

Harvey said the club was looking forward to the contest Sunday’s match would bring.

“We played the top side last week and probably the second favourites this week so it’s a good challenge for our group to find out where we are exactly at and where we need to go.”