Josh Hill is confident West Coast can fill the void left by Jeremy McGovern, should the defender be ruled out of Friday night's AFL clash with Richmond.
McGovern suffered a corked thigh in the Eagles' 50-point win over Essendon last Saturday.
The 23-year-old remains in doubt for the third-placed side's match against the Tigers at the MCG.
"He's going to be doing whatever he can to pull through for the week and the boys don't really know (if McGovern will play)," Hill said.
"It's all up to the docs and whether they clear him. We'll wait and see what they say.
"It'd be a big loss if we lose Gov, but there's a lot of young players that can play that role as well." Coach Adam Simpson suggested on Saturday that Tom Barrass could come into the 22 for McGovern.
Hill backed the debutant to deliver his best against a forward line featuring Jack Riewoldt.
"He plays a lot like Gov," Hill said of Barrass.
"He reads the play well and he can take those intercept marks.
"He can play on players that are a bit bigger than him and step up when the challenge is there."
The Eagles' entire list will be carefully managed this week.
They had a six-day turnaround after losing to North Melbourne in Hobart and are in the middle of another six-day break between games.
"We're just happy to be going in with the momentum of coming off a win," Hill said.
"We're going to fly on Wednesday. It's going to be a very short week for us."
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