Bookends Robbie Tarrant (groin tightness) and Drew Petrie (corked leg) had been in some doubt earlier in the week, but both emerged well from a light session at Arden Street Oval hours before the Roos' flew out from Tullamarine.

They were pitted against each other in marking contests inside the forward 50 at the Arden Street end of the ground during a session watched by a couple of thousand North fans. Defender Tarrant missed last week's win in Sydney after being a late withdrawal, while forward Petrie sustained his knock during the game at ANZ Stadium. Both were named in the Roos' team to play the Eagles, with Tarrant brought in at the expense of fellow backman McDonald.

North enter the game as rank outsiders - having finished eighth on the ladder following the home-and-away season, compared to West Coast's second placing. But having won nine of their past 11 matches, Higgins believed the Roos could rightly enter the game with confidence. "That's okay. Not many rated us a month ago, and we got ourselves to a prelim so we're not fussed about that. We've had confidence in the way we've gone about it, we've got confidence in the way we prepared."

Notwithstanding their lower finish, Higgins didn't think there was any less pressure on North than on their opponents. "No I don't think so. Grand final's up for grabs, we've got a lot of pressure ourselves to get the job done. We plan to play off in a grand final, not to play off in a prelim, so we've got just as much to lose as they do.

"We're not happy about just making the prelim like the boys may have been last year. It's exciting first time you're in a prelim, so you can probably understand that. We're preparing obviously to win and to move on to next week."