PERTH, AUSTRALIA - AUGUST 19: Daniel Venables of the Eagles marks the ball against Bailey Fritsch of the Demons during the round 22 AFL match between the West Coast Eagles and Melbourne Demons at Optus Stadium on August 19, 2018 in Perth, Australia. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

Melbourne are set to drop Bayley Fritsch for their preliminary final against the West Coast Eagles.

The Demons are set to replace Fritsch for the taller Joel Smith, as they come up against the Eagles tall forward line.

Smith had an impressive eight tackles in VFL club Casey's win over Essendon on Saturday and Goodwin admitted his name would come up in the match committee this week.

Fritsch has played 23 games this season as a forward and a defender.

The decision to drop Fritsch from Melbourne's biggest game since the 2000 Grand Final would be one of the more heartbreaking decisions of this finals series.

Melbourne legend Gerard Healy admitted earlier in the week the Demons would be forced to make a change to their team to match-up with the the Eagles tall forward line.

“I think there will be big discussion. He gives them great flexibility and they are going in against a side that is different to everyone else," Healy said on Sportsday Radio. 

“They’ve got so many tall forwards. They’ve got the Krakour brothers [Willie Rioli and Liam Ryan] who are creating havoc at ground level. This guy gives them more flexibility than a Hannan."

“I think Dom Tyson would be nervous because he had a pretty average game on the weekend.”

Melbourne are aiming to win their third consecutive game in Perth. The Demons defeated the Eagles by 17-points in round 22 to secure their spot in the top eight.

West Coast were without Josh Kennedy in that game, while Jack Darling suffered a concussion early in the opening term and was ruled out for the remainder of the game.

Despite missing their two leading-goal kickers, the Eagles held a slender lead in the final term, before the Demons kicked the final three goals of the game to run away with the win.