West Coast midfielder Chris Masten says the low expectations of the team will help drive them to success this year.

Only one rival captain has tipped the Eagles to make the AFL finals this year, with the season-ending knee injury to Eric Mackenzie convincing many football experts to write off the club’s top-eight hopes.

But Masten said the players were confident of proving the doubters wrong.

“No one really rates us on the outside, but that doesn’t change a thing inside our doors,” Masten said on Thursday.

“We’re probably a little underrated. That sits well with us. We’ve got something to prove, and hopefully we can.

“We’re not here just to rock up and make up the numbers. We want to have a really good crack.”

Mackenzie has been one of the competition’s best key defenders during the past two years.

His absence will place more responsibility on Mitch Brown, Will Schofield, and Jeremy McGovern to shut down the opposition’s key forwards.

“It’s pretty bad losing one of your best players. But we’ve got plenty of blokes who can step up and hopefully fill his shoes,” Masten said.

Meanwhile, West Coast chief executive Trevor Nisbett hopes former AFL star Ben Cousins will soon seek help for his troubles.

Cousins has been arrested three times in the past month, and was forcibly detained at Armadale Kelmscott Memorial Hospital in recent days so his mental health could be assessed.

The 36-year-old played 238 games for West Coast before being axed by the club in 2007, when his drug problems spiralled out of control.

“Ben needs to get himself right and make a decision himself, so that all the people who want to help him can help him,” Nisbett said.

The Eagles announced a five-year partnership with Telstra on Thursday, in what the club hopes will give them a technological edge over their AFL rivals.

“There’s so many things changing rapidly which should be able to help us in the future,” Nisbett said.

“When we first put the GPS systems into the players, everyone was thinking, ‘This isn’t going to work. How are they going to track the players properly?’

“We’ve moved on so far since then. Now there’s microchips in footballs – there’s all sorts off things they’re using.”