GEELONG coach Mark Thompson has pledged Saturday's visit to Skilled Stadium will be the toughest afternoon in the Eagles' collective footballing lives, but West Coast coach John Worsfold is looking forward to it.

Worsfold has endured his toughest AFL campaign since he was appointed at the end of 2001, and admits it has taught him not only about his players, but also about himself.

The learning curve will continue in round 22 against minor premier Geelong, but Worsfold declared on Wednesday his side will give its all in the face of Thompson’s bold threat.

"We’re going to lap that up – that’s one thing for sure," Worsfold said, when asked about Thompson's Sunday statement that he wanted to give the Eagles the hardest day of their lives.

"It’s a great learning environment for a lot of our players, and it’s a great learning environment for me.

"Mark Thompson has made a statement that is really directed at the Geelong players more than at us. [We'll] just go out and enjoy the challenge of playing one of the great sides."

Continuing the educational theme, Worsfold said he was looking forward to observing how Thompson handles the pressure and expectation heaped on his mighty side, both this week and in its coming finals campaign.

"They are going through a lot of different emotions this week, and he'll deal with it in his own way," Worsfold said.

"I'm interested to sit back and look at how he deals with that and what impact it has. But we're looking forward to the challenge, they are a very good side and it's one of the great opportunities for our young players to learn."

Worsfold said West Coast's 135-point belting at the hands of Geelong in round 13 taught his players a lesson and gave them resolve.

"That was a game where the players were pretty strong about not ever getting beaten like that again," Worsfold said.

"But we have to make sure we've learned from it for the long term."

Injuries have continued to plague West Coast since that clash and Worsfold was expecting to pick a side from around 25 players this week.

But despite Essendon and Fremantle also nursing large portions of their squads, Worsfold was not worried about a long-term trend developing.

"I think there's two or three clubs in a similar boat this year, which is a bit of a concern," he said.

"But teams have that year and I can't see us having as much bad luck in terms of the fractures and serious injuries that we've had this year, again.

"It will happen again at some stage, but not for a long time I wouldn't expect."

Worsfold said he was not expecting utility David Wirrpanda to recover from a hamstring injury in time for the game while Mark LeCras (adductor strain) will be assessed after Wednesday night's closed training session.

He added that blooding another rookie was unlikely.