WEST COAST has played down any advantage it may hold over the Western Bulldogs, who play at Subiaco for the second time in a month on Sunday and are coming off a six-day break.
Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade accepted the vagaries of the draw after his side played on Easter Monday, but forecast a tougher than usual recovery for his charges next week.
Crossing the Nullarbor once a fortnight has become second nature for West Coast, and assistant coach Daniel Metropolis said it was a part of the game clubs had to deal with.
"Well the travel issue's been going on forever and a day, hasn't it? We've done it for 20 years every second week," Metropolis said from Subi on Friday.
"It's the nature of the beast. We play in almost every state this year, so we accept that that's the way the game is. I think every other team has to accept that at times they're going to have to come to Perth twice in a year.
"It just happens to be for the Western Bulldogs it's twice in a month.
"(But) I expect that the Bulldogs will come here and be ready to go."
Eade’s men looked sharp on Subiaco Oval in round one, playing the wider ground to perfection in their 63-point win over Fremantle.
Players like reliable veteran Jason Akermanis and youngster Shaun Higgins have stood out so far this season, but the whole pack of Bulldog midfielders has been in great touch.
Metropolis agreed the visitor's on-ball riches and in-form small forwards would pose a challenge, but said West Coast needed to concentrate on its own game.
"They're a very balanced side the Western Bulldogs [with] a very even number of players that can go through the midfield and forward, so that's their strength," Metropolis said.
"They've got very good running power.
"(But) we need to focus on how we're going to win the game, not how we're going to stop the Western Bulldogs."
West Coast will seek to notch its second win over a highly fancied side this season with David Wirrpanda back on board and the versatile Brent Staker recalled.
Metropolis said Wirrpanda’s fitness would be tested on Saturday morning and, given he gets through the session, would play.
With Staker stepping in after an impressive WAFL performance with East Fremantle, Metropolis said the two omissions were warranted after last week’s big loss to St Kilda.
Versatile defender Will Schofield has been named on an extended interchange bench alongside Mitch Brown, Ryan Davis, Brad Ebert, Chad Fletcher, Chris Masten and Ben McKinley.
"Selection will be different this week, when we lose by that much there are going to be changes, the players have to be accountable," Metropolis said.
"We had a big review of what we did leading up to that game, and the post mortem was thorough. We expect a much better performance this week."
