With three significant milestones and the recognition of last year's premiership, the stage is set for a night of celebration for the West Coast Eagles on Saturday.

But coach Adam Simpson knows GWS are coming to spoil the party.

The Eagles' AFL premiership defence didn't get off to a good start, conceding 15 of the last 17 goals to lose by 44 points to the Brisbane Lions.

In contrast, the Giants couldn’t have been more impressive hammering Essendon by 72 points, leaving Simpson fully aware that the Eagles will have their work cut out to win at Optus Stadium.

Given it's the first home game for the reigning premiers of 2019, plenty is planned to commemorate the premiership with a curtain-raiser featuring former players and a tribute to retired stars including Mark LeCras.

Star forward Josh Kennedy will return to play his 200th game for West Coast as will premiership teammate Chris Masten while captain Shannon Hurn reaches 250.

Simpson knows there are plenty of excuses for his players to be distracted but he's confident once they run out they will be focused.

"With the industry we're in and the club we are, there's always possibilities to be distracted but our group is pretty mature in that sense," Simpson said.

"There's some great milestones that we're really embracing, but we're not changing our process of how we go about our prep.

"We know where we're at and what we need to do especially because the Giants were the most impressive of all the sides last week.

"What they did and the way they went about it was really sharp."

There was plenty to like about the Giants' demolition of Essendon even if they do come to Perth without Toby Greene.

Stephen Coniglio was best afield with 31 possessions and three goals, but it was running machine Lachie Whitfield that Simpson singled out as the man they can't let rack up 30 disposals once again.

"Whitfield has taken his game to another level already," Simpson said.