A yr on from the horror fortnight of accidents that ruined their 2022, West Coast’s tall ahead shares are teetering.
Spearheads Jack Darling (ankle), Jack Williams (ruptured spleen) and Oscar Allen (hamstring tightness) sat out Friday evening’s intraclub with accidents, simply 4 weeks out from spherical one.
While Darling and Allen are more likely to be match for the season opener towards North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium on March 18, their preparation has been compromised by accidents.
Allen’s harm is believed to solely be minor, however all eyes might be on the 23-year-old when the Eagles prepare on Monday morning forward of a follow match towards Port Adelaide at Mineral Resources Park on Friday.
But it was about this time final yr when a sore foot sidelined Allen earlier than he was finally dominated out for the season.
West Coast fielded a small assault within the intraclub match, with ruckman Bailey Williams and fringe ahead Jake Waterman beginning as the important thing targets, whereas Liam Ryan was alongside smaller forwards Noah Long, Jamie Cripps and Samo Petrevski-Seton.
Defenders Tom Barrass and Harry Edwards additionally frolicked enjoying ahead, giving coach Adam Simpson a have a look at what they may do if they’re wanted for a positional change early within the season.
Simpson flagged on Tuesday that Allen can be rested for the intraclub earlier than it emerged he had a sore hamstring, whereas Darling was unlikely to play in any clashes main into spherical one.
“He (Allen) didn’t play a game last year and hasn’t missed a session over pre-season,” Simpson mentioned.
“He had a stress-related injury so we’re just making sure we don’t cook him too early.
“He won’t play this week in the intraclub … we will manage our players as we need to.”
It comes as North Melbourne key defenders Griffin Logue and Ben McKay stood out of their intraclub on Saturday morning forward of their spherical one assembly with West Coast.
“Him (Logue) and ‘Buckets’ (McKay), the combo of them is pretty damaging in terms of aerial prowess and marking the footy,” Kangaroos midfield coach Jordan Russell mentioned.
“He’s only been here for three or four months but he’s actually only been on the track for a couple of weeks, and you can see how quickly he’s slotted into the system.”
Skipper Luke Shuey (managed), midfielder Dom Sheed (marriage ceremony), Jack Petruccelle (ankle), Luke Edwards (quad), Zane Trew and Rhett Bazzo (each private) have been others who missed the 100-minute session underneath lights.
West Coast’s “best team” line-up in Friday’s intraclub
F: N Long B Williams J Waterman
HF: J Cripps L Ryan S Petrevski-Seton
C: C Chesser J Culley J Hunt
HB: L Duggan T Barrass E Yeo
B: S Hurn J McGovern A Witherden
RUCK: N Naitanui T Kelly R Ginbey
I/C: J Jones A Gaff T Cole X O’Neill
ABSENT: L Shuey D Sheed O Allen J Williams J Darling R Bazzo Z Trew J Petruccelle L Edwards
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
