John Worsfold has refused to buy into comments from Geelong coach Mark Thompson that the Eagles will experience the 'hardest day of their lives' against the premiership favourites this weekend.
Thompson made the ominous warning to West Coast after a clinical 33-point victory over North Melbourne last Sunday, but the Eagles coach believes Thompson is just trying to fire up the Cats for a seemingly meaningless encounter between first and 15th on the ladder.
And, although he acknowledges his injury-ravaged team may struggle against the in-form Cats, Worsfold said it was up to the challenge.
"Mark Thompson made a statement that is really directed at the Geelong players more than at us," said Worsfold on Wednesday.
"So he's dealing with his side, they're going through a lot of different emotions this week and he'll deal with it in his own way and I'm interested to sit back and see how he deals with that and what impact it has."
"It'd be a big win if we could do it, but, all we can guarantee is that we'll go out and give it everything, not just count down the minutes in the game 'til the end of the season."
"This week we'll go out to compete and play at our best and the expectation is probably not that we're a great chance to win but that anything can happen, that's certainly the focus," he said.
Worsfold added that the Eagles were not going to Skilled Stadium looking for revenge after the Cats inflicted the club's worst-ever loss at Subiaco in Round 13, a 135-point humiliation that was the Eagles' darkest day since barely managing to score three goals against Essendon at Windy Hill during 1989.
"It (the loss) taught us a good lesson, there's no doubt about that, not just from Geelong, but where we stood and why we couldn't really close any sort of gap to stop them scoring."
"That was a game where the players were pretty strong about not being beaten like that again, but we have to make sure we've learned from it in the long term," Worsfold said.
Eagles' goalsneak Mark LeCras is a chance to return after being a late withdrawal from last week's side with an adductor strain, while veteran David Wirrpanda (bruised buttocks/hamstring) is unlikely to play in the last match of the year.