West Coast defender Brad Sheppard says Greater Western Sydney’s team selection will determine whether the Eagles continue to play All-Australian pair Jeremy McGovern and Elliot Yeo in different positions this week.

Josh Kennedy, Jack Darling, Mark LeCras and Tom Barrass were injured last weekend and the Eagles responded by shifting McGovern from defence to attack and Yeo from midfield to defence. The moves worked for three quarters, with West Coast leading by 20 points before Adelaide stormed to victory as their midfield gave their forwards outstanding service.

The Eagles have lost another forward this week, with Liam Ryan ruled out of Sunday’s clash at Optus Stadium following a car accident on Monday.

West Coast won 10 straight games with a policy of keeping players in their best positions and adding replacements who had played the same role at East Perth when necessary.

Sheppard said the raft of injuries to their forwards forced a change of tactics.

“We had to adapt because injuries are part of the game,” he said.

“We had to move Gov out to hopefully kick a few scores and have a presence up forward.

“Yeoy is an All-Australian defender so I thought it was a good move. You’ve just got to make sure that you understand all of the information you’ve been given throughout the week.

“This week, it really depends on the Giants and how they line up. We need to work out the best strategy to beat the Giants.

“Then it’ll get down to personnel and whether Yeo is better off in the midfield and McGovern down back or we stick with the same structure we had last week.”

East Perth have a bye this weekend, which means none of the 26 Eagles named tonight will be required to play WAFL.

The Giants don’t have that luxury because they are travel-ling and their NEAFL team is playing on Saturday.

Nathan Vardy kicked two goals for East Perth last week and looms as an option in attack. Dom Sheed also impressed with 34 possessions in the midfield.

West Coast are hoping to avoid losing four consecutive games for the first time since 2014.

But Sheppard said morale remained high and the feeling hadn’t changed from when the team was winning.

“We’ve still got tremendous belief and the best thing is that Simmo has got a lot of belief in this group,” he said.

“We’ve got a young squad on the park and we enjoy them bringing enthusiasm ... It’s a good vibe around the club.”