DAMIEN Hardwick says he'll wait on the Melbourne weather for Friday night before confirming whether his three tall fowards will face West Coast at the MCG.
Jack Riewoldt, Ty Vickery and Ben Griffiths kicked seven goals between them against Fremantle two weeks ago in just their second game as a forward line trio this season.
While Hardwick said it would be hard to drop any of them, a forecast of 12 degrees and possible showers meant it wasn't a certainty they would provide the best mix in wintery conditions.
"We'll see how that goes just prior to the game - it's hard to predict the Melbourne weather," Hardwick said on Thursday.
"At this stage we're really happy with the way those three talls are going and the way they've structured up and the way they've played.
"They're all playing a role at various stages so there's a 90 per cent chance they'll all play, but we'll leave that up our sleeve if it does get too wet."
Hardwick said the Tigers were expecting Jeremy McGovern, who has travelled from Perth, to play, despite the Eagles defender suffering from a corked thigh.
He also said they didn't consider West Coast's backline to be vulnerable despite the absence of a few key pillars.
"They're 8-3 and they've had those injury concerns with those guys going down in [Mitch] Brown and [Eric] McKenzie, and they've covered those guys really well," he said.
"[Matt] Rosa is just starting to come back through injury and whether [Elliot] Yeo goes back we're not too sure.
"They've got capable players down there and we don't underestimate the ability of that side to compete really hard.
"They're going incredibly well at the moment, so our forward line is going to have its hands full."
The Eagles are yet to have their bye and will play their third game in 12 days on Friday night, which included an arduous trip to Hobart two weeks ago.
Hardwick said his side wouldn't rely on a lethargic opposition to grab the four points but that his players were feeling good after a week off.
"We played back-to-back six day breaks before we went to Fremantle so I think it's a bit of furphy, really," he said.
"Our guys are mentally fresh, this time of year all sides are battling injury and soreness.
The Tigers look fresh in their training tops ahead of Friday's clash with West Coast. Picture: Getty Images
"All we can do is put our players on the park and ask them to provide the best contest possible, and play with intensity and great effort.
"The guys have come back mentally fresh after the break … we were happy to embrace the break because our injury list from our VFL players has been pretty stark – we only had six or seven playing before break.
"We get a couple back this week so our list is a little bit healthier compared to what it was."
Hardwick said he wasn't concerned about a let-down after the bye, with the Tigers training strongly over the past week.
Veteran Chris Newman is likely to play a second game in the VFL while Matt Dea and Shaun Hampson at also expected to line up alongside him.
Hardwick said Newman was likely to spend another week at VFL level before pushing for a senior return after overcoming the groin injury he sustained in round six.
"It is hard to change a winning side and Chris will be thereabouts, he's put his hand up for selection this week but he has only played three quarters of a game in four weeks," he said.
"He'll have another one in the twos this week and see how it goes from there.
"From our point of view he's an important player, he plays really good team orientated footy, so once he's ready to play he'll certainly put his hand up for selection."
