West Coast Eagles youngster Reuben Ginbey is focusing on enjoying and keeping things simple over the next few matches after making the switch to the defence. 

Since last fortnight’s Brisbane match the 19-year-old has been refamiliarising himself with the backline – an area he primarily played in at WAFL level before he was drafted. 

In this weekend’s 59th Western Derby will be a key part of West Coast’s plans to keep Fremantle’s firing forward line at bay as the rivals look to redeem themselves after their shock derby loss in round six. 

With Fremantle in form and favourites to win, Ginbey says West Coast still has a point to prove this weekend. 

“You’d love to win every week, but the derbies are a little bit different,” he told SportFM.

“They’re going really well at the moment and they want to hold their spot in the top four. 

“We don’t have much to lose. We’ve definitely got a point to prove, so we want to obviously play our best footy. 

“If we could win the two derbies this year and show we’re not easybeats at home, it would be really important for us and really build that momentum into the next five weeks.”

On his revised role in the Eagles’ playing set up, Ginbey believes the switch has been beneficial to him and is enabling him to develop his footy. 

“I’ve liked it over the last couple of weeks,” he said.

(Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images via AFL Photos)

“This year I probably haven’t been able to play as good as footy as I would have liked in the midfield. 

“Schoey just said, with only a few games left, just have a look down back and see how you go.

“My first game against Brisbane was okay. Their half forwards are pretty good with Rayner and the likes of Lohman and Bailey. 

“This week against Saints, I was able to get a bit more of the ball, contest a few marks, and a bit of run and carry. 

“Hopefully we can stay down there for the rest of the year and see how that goes.”

Ginbey played one of his best games of the season against St Kilda over the weekend, racking up 22 disposals, five tackles and four marks. 

He says being in the backline allows him to grow his craft and learn from All-Australian defender Jeremy McGovern and Tom Barrass. 

“The West Coast backline group has been a pretty solid, tight-knit unit down there that doesn’t change too much.

“Jumping in and doing a bit of work with guys, like Tommy Barrass and McGovern for a directive and trying to mark up against those guys, you don’t really have too much of a chance.

“It’s going to be great to try to learn a bit of bodywork off those guys.”

The 59th Western Derby kicks off at 6:10pm AWST on Saturday at Optus Stadium.