WEST COAST coach John Worsfold has backed his on-field leaders to come good against Fremantle, after being savaged by chief executive Trevor Nisbett following last weekend's resounding defeat to Adelaide.

Nisbett took the unusual step of going public with his dissatisfaction following the Eagles' demoralising 74-point defeat to the Crows, calling the last quarter effort a disgrace and warning senior players they needed to improve out of sight.

Speaking ahead of Saturday's western derby, Worsfold said he expected them to do just that against the Dockers, making talk of sweeping changes redundant.

"I doubt it will happen this week, and I doubt it will happen down the line because we expect our senior players to get out of that," Worsfold said on Wednesday.

"We know they will bounce back, so that will not be an issue.

And Worsfold said while Nisbett was entitled to voice his opinion, it held no sway inside the match committee room.

"Trevor, certainly as CEO, is entitled to make his opinion felt, but he has no impact on our match committee selection," Worsfold said.

The WA derby is being played with the unusual background of losses from both teams the previous week and the Eagles will start underdogs despite home crowd advantage, largely due to their dismal showing at AAMI Stadium.

But adopting the 'week is a long time in football' philosophy, Worsfold said he hoped time would heal the wounds, and the deficiencies, of last week.

"Seven days does make a difference, it is a new game so history shows it is possible to do it," Worsfold said.

"Our preparation is set around performing better than we did last week."

With the pressure on the players, particularly given the opposition, Worsfold said application of pressure was the main improvement he was looking for.

"Across the field our lack of pressure was below what we would have expected," Worsfold said.

"It is not a physical thing, it has to be mental - we have the capacity to do it."

In team news, captain Darren Glass is expected to be fit despite jarring a knee against the Crows, with new recruit Josh Kennedy tipped to make his debut in Perth's biggest footballing occasion.