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Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin is expecting Greater Western Sydney to come out firing in their AFL clash on Sunday.

Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin has put his team on alert for a contested slugfest when they confront a Greater Western Sydney outfit hungry for redemption in Canberra on Sunday.

The Giants were woefully off the ball in last week's 31-point AFL loss to Fremantle, with the 2019 grand finalists losing the contest possession battle by a whopping 32.

GWS coach Leon Cameron was highly critical of his team after the match, even threatening to wield the axe to get back on track after the club's 0-2 start to the season.

The situation is vastly different at Melbourne, who are brimming with confidence after wins over Fremantle and St Kilda.

Goodwin says his team will face a big challenge against the fired-up Giants.

"GWS clearly in their own words didn't have the week they wanted last week," Goodwin said.

"We certainly know what type of footy club they are. They're a contested ball team, and they respond after performances like that.

"It (contested possessions) is an area of the game that we pride ourselves on as well, and we're up for that.

"In AFL footy you might be off one week but you can certainly be on the next. We've got no doubt GWS will come out and respond.

"It shapes up for a great game of footy."

Goodwin has a glut of options at the selection table, with experienced players Michael Hibberd, Majak Daw, Jake Melksham and Aaron Vandenberg all pushing for selection.

Squeezing them into a winning side appears highly unlikely for the moment.

"They're guys who have played a lot of AFL footy, and that's a great thing for our footy club," Goodwin said.

"We're starting to become healthy, we have senior players pressing for spots in the team, and the young guys in the team are making that really difficult for them."