The Eagles will be without Nic Naitanui (groin), Daniel Kerr (knee), Matt Rosa (quad) and Sharrod Wellingham (ankle), but they remain favourites against a relatively healthy Fremantle team.
Ruckman Aaron Sandilands (hamstring) and Anthony Morabito (knee) won't be available on Saturday, and there are fresh concerns around Zac Clarke's fitness after he limped from the training track on Tuesday.
Pavlich was full of praise for the Eagles, who were backed by seven of the AFL club captains on Tuesday to make this year's Grand Final.
"West Coast have been building for a couple of years now and are probably unlucky not to progress further in the finals series last year," Pavlich said.
"They're talking about a big year and I'm expecting that to be the case.
"Come Saturday night we're expecting a fierce opening and a really hard contest.
"Regardless of who they may have out they'll be at their best and we'll have to play some serious footy to get the points."
The extent of any injury to Clarke was unclear on Tuesday, but Pavlich said Fremantle had cover if the young ruckman was unavailable.
"We've got some great back-up with a couple of guys who'll come in and just compete for us," he said.
"Certainly Kepler (Bradley), he played most of the pre-season games.
"Jack Hannath has been around the mark and is one of the players that we drafted for this exact reason."
On his own form after an interrupted pre-season, Pavlich said he was feeling good and had recovered well from back, hip and Achilles tendon surgeries.
The star goalkicker said it was time for Fremantle to test itself after its second pre-season under coach Ross Lyon and see how it had improved after last year's semi-final loss to Adelaide.
"The proof will be in the pudding," he said.
"What we do know though is our preparation has been really sound and there's been a tremendous amount of pressure on.
"What it actually means in terms of where we end up or how much better off we are, we don’t know.
"We just know that we've done the preparation, we've done the work and now it's time to go and sit the exam."
Matthew Pavlich is a forward in NAB AFL Fantasy. He averaged 95 points in 2012. Register your team at our AFL Fantasy Hub.
Nathan Schmook is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_Nathan
