West Coast defender Mitch Brown has a message he wants to send out to opposition AFL sides - take the Eagles lightly at your own peril.

The Eagles have been the yo-yo side of the competition this season, with impressive home wins over Port Adelaide (50 points) and Western Bulldogs (33 points) coming either side of their atrocious 97-point away loss to St Kilda.

Brown was adamant the loss to the Saints was merely an aberration and said the players had put a big emphasis on regaining respect this season following last year's disastrous 4-18 campaign.

"We've got to show teams that they can't just come over here (to Perth) and think it's going to be a bye week," Brown said on Monday.

"Especially after the 97-point loss teams might get the idea of that so we've just got to show them it's not the case.

"You've got to earn the respect.

"With our performance last year I think we lost a little bit of that so you've got to earn it again.

"Winning big games like yesterday (against the Bulldogs) is certainly a way to do it.

"I think it's a credit to everyone's attitude and the leadership from the boys, especially Darren Glass, and the ability of our coach."

Brown admitted the Eagles suffered a mental lapse against the Saints but said the team was eager to replicate their home form in Saturday's match against a wounded Hawthorn outfit in Launceston.

"We are going to go there with full force and give it all we've got," he said.

"We definitely want to make Subiaco Oval our fortress ... but we've obviously got to get our away wins up and get that consistency together if we want to make it in the race to the finals.

"We've got to string our wins together and not let this loss, win, loss, win happen."

Hawthorn, who have won just one game this season, suffered another blow on the injury front when Brent Guerra suffered a hamstring injury in the side's loss to Port Adelaide.

But defender Stephen Gilham (knee) may return against the Eagles.

Brown, who missed all of last season after injuring his knee during the pre-season, has been in sparkling touch for the Eagles.

The 20-year-old, whose twin brother Nathan plays for Collingwood, said captain Darren Glass had been an inspiration in the backline.

"He's taught me and Eric Mackenzie the way to do things down there and taught us some leadership skills there because we all work as a unit down there," he said.

"Everyone's got a voice down there and that's the way we like it, one unit."

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