Naitanui was one of a handful of star Eagles who missed matches early in the season due to injury and admits some of his teammates have been playing catch up since.
"For myself it has been [behind a lack of four-quarter effort]," Naitanui said. "For a few others, I think Kerr-y had a bit of late start as well.
"Guys like us we're probably a little bit behind a few of the others who have had a whole pre-season so I guess the first five or six games that we have played has been our mini pre-season.
"Round one for us starts next week."
Another critical issue is the team's inconsistency throughout games, Naitanui said.
"The guys are giving it their all. I just think it's just a matter of being switched on the whole time," he said.
"It's always there, just in spurts. If we can string together four quarters of it, like we were last year, and as we did against some of the lesser teams like GWS, if we bring that same intensity the whole time it will put us in good stead for the second half of the year."
West Coast, who sits in eighth place with six wins from 11 matches, faces a stern five weeks after this weekend's bye with matches against Hawthorn, Essendon, Adelaide and the Sydney Swans.
"None of the guys are afraid of it," Naitanui said of the upcoming draw.
"We're all excited to test ourselves against the best … if you want to play finals, and play well in finals, you've got to beat these teams, so it will be a good challenge for us."
Naitanui also responded to increasing speculation regarding coach John Worsfold, who is out of contract at the end of 2013 and remains uncommitted on whether he will continue.
"Most definitely [I hope Worsfold will stay]," Naitanui said.
"He's been my only coach so far at AFL level and I hope he's there for the rest of my career.
"He's done great things for the club and turned it around the last few years, especially since I've first started, so hopefully he signs on for another couple more."
