WEST COAST coach John Worsfold yesterday refused to downplay claims by an assistant that Fremantle lacked respect for the Eagles before Saturday's crucial derby at Subiaco Oval.

Senior assistant coach Peter Sumich raised the heat before a match critical for both teams, given their poor starts to the season, by saying "the Victorian" association at Fremantle did not rate their cross-town rivals.

The Dockers, who have won three of their past four matches against West Coast, have several Victorians in their coaching hierarchy, led by Mark Harvey, while chief executive Cameron Schwab also hails from Melbourne.

While Worsfold would not comment directly on the allegation, he did not dismiss Sumich's suggestion when quizzed.

"That's very much a perspective thing that people individually can make," Worsfold said. "That was Peter's opinion and he's certainly entitled to have that.

"He still lives in Fremantle and has a good feel about the talk around the town. He's lived his whole life in that area."

Harvey suggested Sumich was simply trying to intimidate the Dockers, who fell away against Collingwood and Hawthorn in their opening two encounters.

"Every now and then there'll be a remark from a coach that'll perhaps try to intimidate the opposition or sidetrack them," he said. "I think that's what adds to the intrigue of football."

While Harvey brushed off the criticism, he hinted that the timing was part of a calculated bid to put Fremantle off its game.

"I thought it was interesting that it was brought up," he said.

"And if it's going to be brought up, why wasn't it brought up two months ago when we played them. We've got to focus on the game now."

Worsfold, who watched the Eagles throw in perhaps their worst performance under his reign against Adelaide last week, also denied he was surprised by chief executive Trevor Nisbett's criticism of the effort. Nisbett told The Australian senior players were on notice following the 76-point loss at AAMI Stadium.

"The lack of intensity from senior players was terrible and they need to lift their rating just to be competitive, let alone win games," Nisbett said.

Worsfold said that while Nisbett was entitled to his opinion, he held no sway when it came to selection. "Trevor is certainly entitled as CEO to make his opinions felt," he said yesterday. "But he has no impact on our match committee's selection."

While West Coast has won one match, victory on Saturday is crucial given an away game against Sydney follows.

But for the Eagles to topple the Dockers, vast improvement is needed up forward, with West Coast ranked last in the league for marks taken inside the 50m arc with just 12 from two matches.

Worsfold conceded it was a concern, but said it was not only his misfiring forward line that carried responsibility.

"It was across the board," he said. "Often forwards score most easily on pressured turnovers coming out of the backline. So that's them contributing to their own ability to score easily."

Harvey, too, has concerns, although his are more to do with selection. He is weighing up whether to include promising ruckman Robbie Warnock to assist Aaron Sandilands given the early-season form of Dean Cox and Mark Seaby.

"Aaron's winning enough of the hit-outs and he's against a quality player in Dean. It's just whether we go with Robbie," Harvey said."

Defender Heath Black (concussion) looks set to return for Fremantle, while Worsfold declared captain Darren Glass (knee injury) a certain starter.