Young gun Reuben Ginbey will embrace the challenge of stopping either of the Western Bulldogs’ star key forwards, coach Andrew McQualter says.

Dogs duo Aaron Naughton (55 goals) and Sam Darcy (45) present a massive stumbling block for the Eagles at Marvel Stadium, with key defender Harry Edwards in doubt to return from a foot injury.

Ginbey, 20, has competed manfully against some of the AFL’s most dangerous forwards this year – including powerhouse Riley Thilthorpe, hard-running Coleman Medal leader Jeremy Cameron and crafty small Jamie Elliot – and will be required to do another job in the penultimate round.

Standing at 191cm, medium-sized athletic beast Ginbey would give away five centimetres to Naughton and an incredible 17cm to Darcy.

“I think that’s the beauty of what ‘Reubs’ can do,” McQualter said on Thursday.

“The challenges we’ve asked ‘Reubs’ to do is tall, small, medium, fast, strong – all types of challenges. Because of his athletic profile he’s able to play on most.

“He’s not going to get everything perfect and he’s a young man still growing his football game.

“The expectation on him to get these jobs done every week is probably unrealistic, but he keeps proving that wrong and doing a good job and fighting really hard for his teammates.”

Sandy Brock and Rhett Bazzo played against Adelaide last round and will be in the mix to once again man the key posts alongside Ginbey.

“It’s a big challenge with the Dogs. It’s probably one of the most potent forward lines in the game, particularly their talls,” McQualter said.

“All of it, as usual, will come down to how much pressure we can get on the ball.

“If they get pretty clear supply, their guys will be dangerous, and probably put on a big score but if we can get the right pressure on the ball and our numbers in the right space we might be able to defend them and make a real game of it.”

West Coast’s pressure was outstanding as the team fell just short of an epic upset against Adelaide, and the challenge is to replicate that defensive intensity.

“It has to be our baseline to be able to compete in AFL football,” McQualter said.

“I think the beauty now is we’ve seen evidence the players can do it and the challenge now is how do you replicate that every game?

“It will take 23 players like it does every week so we’ll train it strongly today and look to replicate that performance.”  

The Eagles have lost some more leadership with co-captain Liam Duggan suspended for the final two matches, with Liam Baker to stand in as skipper.

“’Duggo’s’ been so reliable for us. Played the whole year under duress at times,” McQualter said.

“He’s been really brave and tough, so we’ll miss him.

“But like all year when we’ve lost our leaders it provides opportunity for someone else.”