His side have built their season on a "no excuses" philosophy and Wests coach Jason Ryles isn't about to change his mantra over the latter half of the season.

The Devils have plenty to reach for if they choose having battled injury all season. Skipper Matt Clarke will miss the first of two consecutive clashes with Thirroul at Parrish Park on Saturday while attacking general Daniel Holdsworth is also in doubt with a hamstring injury.

Wests have also sorely missed key-bookends Lloyd Thomas and Justin King up front for the bulk of the year and neither will be back with injury ending their respective seasons. King returned from a nasty hand injury against Collegians two weeks ago only to tear a pectoral muscle.

The injuries have tested the Devils depth but Ryles has been pleased with what he's seen.

"Clarkey's definitely out but DJ [Holdsworth] we'll monitor day by day and see how he goes," Ryles said.

"We've got a few guys missing, Peni [Botiki] is up with the Cutters and Justin King's out for the season with his pec and so's Lloydy which is a huge loss for us but the way we look at it at Wests is that it's certainly not an excuse.

"It's obviously disappointing but I see it as opportunity for some young blokes to get a run a bit earlier than they thought they might.

"That's how I got my opportunity and that's how everyone gets their opportunity through someone else's misfortune.

"I knew going into the season there would be a time during the year when we would get a lot of injuries and that's why we focused so hard on recruiting guys around that 20-21-year-old age bracket. We've got good young kids there and I've got all the confidence in the world in them.

The injury worries have compounded a series of mid-season hiccups from the competition's early pace-setters who've suffered two losses and a draw in their past four games.

They face a tough pair of clashes with Thirroul who will be desperate after dropping out of the top four with a 28-22 loss to Corrimal last week. The Butchers have had their own injury concerns with Trent Waterhouse, Ty McCarthy, Brent Grose, Damien Blanch and Joel Ruskin all missing from the side that lost to the Cougars last week.

All are expected to return this week and Ryles said his young side will need to be at their best to knock off the defending premiers.

"They're a quality side and the thing about Thirroul is ... they always play hard and play until the 80th minute."