Andrew McQualter says West Coast will lean heavily on its team defence as it prepares to face North Melbourne at Optus Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The Eagles will be tested against a Kangaroos side that presents a strong marking threat inside 50, with defender Reuben Ginbey sidelined after sustaining a quad injury in last Saturday’s clash against Port Adelaide.

“When you lose one of your best players, your best key defender, 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.”

North Melbourne spearhead Nick Larkey looms as a key threat after kicking six goals in the teams’ previous meeting in round two, but McQualter said shutting him down would require a collective effort.

“Larkey’s a good player and he kicks a lot of goals, there’s no question about that,” McQualter said.

“They’re one of the best teams at marks inside 50 as well, so it’s going to be a team effort and a system defence that will hopefully be able to control him.”

The Eagles have shown promising signs with their defensive application in recent weeks, and McQualter believes there is still significant growth to come.

“Our defence can definitely go to another level,” McQualter said.

“We’re so far away from a finished product as a team. There’s lots of growth and improvement in us, but we’ve been able to see some of that in the last six or eight weeks.

“Hopefully it’s building our confidence and the evidence for us that we can become the team that can defend the ground.”

McQualter expects North Melbourne to respond strongly following last week’s loss to Fremantle, pointing to their ability to lift intensity after disappointing performances.

“Every time they’ve had a bad loss this year, the way they’ve turned up the next week has been really quite fierce,” McQualter said.

“Our expectation is we’ll get a red-hot Kangaroos side on Saturday afternoon.

“They’ve got a pretty clear way they want to move the ball. It’s a lot of short possession and overlap handball that can be really dangerous.

“If they get it on their terms, they can be really threatening.”

The Eagles will need to match that physicality, with McQualter noting North Melbourne’s strong pressure and tackling response in bounce-back performances.

“That’s what their data shows this year, much higher pressure and much higher tackle efficiency after a loss,” McQualter said.

“So that’s what we expect.”

At WAFL level, several players continue to press their case with strong form, including 22-year-old forward Elijah Hewett, who has shown steady improvement in recent weeks.

“Elijah’s grown the last few weeks and was really competitive last week,” McQualter said.

“He was really influential in that WAFL win against Claremont. He’s improving and, like a few others, he’s just waiting for an opportunity.”

Versatile young Eagle Tom Gross has also impressed while spending more time forward, kicking 4.3 last weekend in the win against Claremont.

“Tom’s got some traits that we really like and he’s working hard on his game,” McQualter said.

“He’s put together a pretty consistent block of work now at WAFL level, so he’s doing everything he can and just has to wait for an opportunity.”