It’s been a difficult start to the season for the West Coast Eagles having lost their opening three matches by an average margin of 64 points.

Coming off their most recent loss, a 76-point thrashing at the hands of the Western Bulldogs, the Eagles will go into their Gather Round match against the Swans hoping to improve the ledger.

Heading to Mt. Barker in the Adelaide Hills for the clash, it’s the first time the two sides will have played each other since the Swans belted West Coast by a whopping 171 points in Round 15 last season.

Against the Dogs veteran defender Jeremy McGovern pulled down 11 marks while Elliot Yeo (29 disposals) and Tim Kelly (28 disposals) were among the best for West Coast.

Tyler Brockman will miss the match against the Swans with concussion with forward Loch Rawlinson to make his AFL debut in his home state after being called up alongside defender Josh Rotham.

The Eagles have chosen to stay in Melbourne before heading to Adelaide for Gather Round, instead of returning to Perth.

"Part of the reason we're here for the week is just to start building that continuity as well. We get to spend a bit more time with each other,” said defender Jeremy McGovern.

"The club's identified that this is probably the best preparation for us, for our games and save us a flight.

Ahead of the clash with the Swans, coach Adam Simpson said they’re simply striving to get better.

“We want to bring our fans along with us for the journey and what were doing. We want to win - we definitely want to win - but we need to get these things right around the fundamentals”, Simpson said.

“We want to get better at the contest and stoppages, but we don’t want to (only) kick three goals.”

First bounce on Saturday at Mt. Barker is 1.00pm (Adelaide time).