The key matchups of Saturday night’s preliminary final are likely to be North Melbourne’s key forwards against West Coast’s key defenders.

Drew Petrie, Jarrad Waite and Ben Brown have all been in good form for the last two finals wins, while West Coast’s defence has been remarkable all season despite injuries.

Eagle Will Schofield will likely match up on either Drew Petrie or Jarrad Waite, with the 26-year-old admitting it will be a tough matchup for his defensive unit.

“That’s one of their big strengths (tall forwards),” Schofield told the media.

“They’ve got big, marking forwards and they’re all individually really good in their own right and we’ll be up against it for sure.”

With Jeremy McGovern likely to take the remaining forward out of Petrie or Waite, it could be Ben Brown with the significant height and weight advantage over his opponent.

The last time the Tasmanian had a similar edge in a finals game, he kicked four important goals against Essendon in 2014’s victory.

Schofield also hasn’t paid attention to the majority of external expectations pencilling in West Coast for a trip to the MCG next week.

“The underdog and favourite status I don’t think means too much in finals.

“North will be coming over here to play their best footy and so will we. Second and eighth on the ladder doesn’t come into it too much.”

Although North played in front of more than 90,000 a fortnight ago at the MCG, Schofield believes the hostile Domain Stadium crowd can play its part for the Eagles on Saturday night.

“The Hawthorn (qualifying final) was the loudest I’ve heard them for some time and hopefully we can step it up again, because it is intimidating,” he said.

“I’ve played in Melbourne against Collingwood and big teams and it’s intimidating playing against loud crowds.”