Eagles coach John Worsfold has laid down the law to several under-performing players after the club's dismal 135-point thrashing by Geelong, saying premiership pair Chad Fletcher and Tyson Stenglein's positions are far from secure.
Fletcher may have amassed 28 touches on the weekend, but seven of those were clangers and one mis-kick in defence during the first quarter allowed Cats defender Harry Taylor to waltz in and bury a confidence-lifting goal.
Worsfold also said Stenglein, who picked up 10 possessions against Geelong, had been disappointing during the last month, placing the pressure firmly on the pair to lift against Hawthorn this weekend.
When asked whether veteran midfielder Fletcher would be selected to fly over to Melbourne on Wednesday, Worsfold's response was a direct message to the player to lift his game.
"I can't answer that (whether Fletcher will be selected) at the moment," said Worsfold on Tuesday.
"He's (Fletcher) a hard body in there (but) he certainly didn't use it anywhere near well enough from what you expect of a player of his quality on Saturday night, so we have to take that into account."
And, on tagger Stenglein, who had his colours lowered by a rampant Gary Ablett, the message was also pretty clear.
"Well below what he can play at," said the coach. "He's frustrated that he's not playing as well as he can but he's doing everything as he's always done."
"He's fit, he's ready to go, he's just struggling for form, which is similar to quite a few of our players, but we're very confident, we know what Tyson can produce and we hope that he can turn that around soon."
However, Worsfold said injuries may prevent him making too many changes to the side, especially after the club lost Beau Waters for the rest of the season, the rugged defender dislocating his elbow in the WAFL.
"We don't have a lot of depth, so ... there's some players we can't leave out of the side because we don't have a player of their ilk to be able to come in and replace them, so that's probably where were hamstrung a little bit at the moment," said Worsfold.
In some good news for the Eagles, Adam Selwood's throat injury was not as serious as first thought when the club's medical staff sent him to hospital at half-time and the tagger could be a chance to play this weekend.
Worsfold also said forward Josh Kennedy was in the mix for selection after recovering from a knee injury, although he would be assessed after training on Tuesday.
The coach also ear-marked skipper Darren Glass to take on Hawks' power forward Lance Franklin, although Worsfold said young defender Beau Wilkes may be given a crack at the Coleman medalist favourite, with Eric Mackenzie also a chance to play his second senior game as the match committee examines the possibility of playing an extra tall in the defence to combat Hawthorn's array of forward talent.