West Coast coach Adam Simpson says early indications are key ahead Jack Darling will miss round a month with a damaged arm whereas captain Luke Shuey and fellow senior gamers Jeremy McGovern and Elliot Yeo had been nonetheless “a few weeks away” from returning.
But younger weapons Noah Long (hamstring), Campbell Chesser (knee) and Elijah Hewett (ankle) will put their hand up for AFL duties in Sunday’s conflict towards Hawthorn in Tasmania, dubbed the Harley Reid Cup due to the probably No.1 choose final result for the loser.
The bottom-placed Hawks are coping with problems with their very own with coach Sam Mitchell struck down with COVID.
Just 0.5 per cent separate the 2 cellar dwellars, who’ve one win apiece this season and are battling for the wood spoon and prized Bendigo Pioneers gun Reid’s companies.
“It’s probably a 3-5 week injury is what we’re hearing, a bit like Josh Rotham early in the year,” Simpson instructed 7NEWS Perth.
“Unfortunately for Jack there’s a little fracture there but it won’t be a massive turnaround.
“Those guys (Shuey, McGovern and Yeo) won’t be back in the short-term, they’re still a few weeks away, but what we have got coming back is some of our younger talent.
“Chesser played (WAFL) at the weekend, Elijah Hewett is back this week, Long is available, so those types of players we’ll be looking at in the short term and the older guys, there’s probably nine of them, they’re a few weeks away.”
The news was additionally promising for speedster Jamaine Jones would might remarkably make the journey to the Apple Isle after struggling a damaged nostril towards the Suns.
Jones hit the monitor at Mineral Resources Park on Monday afternoon, working laps alongside a few youthful teammates in a promising signal for his availability.
“I think he’s tracking OK, we’re waiting on one more scan but I think at this stage he’ll be fine,” Simpson stated.
Simpson confirmed the Eagles would give defender Liam Duggan one other week of captaincy after his glowing efficiency on Friday night time.
Duggan was simply the staff’s finest participant in a disappointing loss, amassing a game-high 32 disposals, 662 metres gained, eight rebound 50s and 7 intercept possessions.
He was the one Eagle to ballot on the coaches’ votes, getting one.
“He went exactly how I thought, he took it in his stride and played really well,” Simpson stated.
“He’ll carry it again for another week and we’ll see what happens after that, depending on when Luke (regular captain Luke Shuey) comes back (from injury) but we were really happy with his performance.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
