West Coast coach Adam Simpson is hopeful Jack Darling will return to his team but says his "hands are tied" in helping the key forward with his immediate future.

Darling has been forced to train away from the Eagles after failing to fulfil the requirements of the AFL's COVID-19 protocols.

Under the AFL's policy, all players and football staff at the two WA clubs were required to have their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine by January 21.

Speaking on Tuesday morning for the first time since Darling's absence, Simpson said he unclear of the next step.

"As a coach, we're a player down and he's a pretty important player, so I hope it gets worked out," Simpson said.

"I've texted him a couple of times, but there's not much we can do at the moment.

"It's probably between Jack and the club to work through and the mandates in place. It's out of my hands personally."

Simpson described the situation as "complicated" and said it was unfair to comment on Darling's situation from a medical point of view.

He did say the rules were clear though, in that you couldn't train or play if you weren't vaccinated.

"My plan is to get him back," Simpson said.

"There's not much we can do. It's between Jack and the club and what they need to work through it. My hands are tied a little bit.

"We still care about Jack, none of that's changed."

The Eagles coach was also unclear about his team's future following the West Australian government's decision to cancel the state's planned border reopening on February 5.

"Ideally we'd like to play home games here … but we understand the situation, it's completely changed in the last two years," he said.

"There's been no communication at the moment, but we're assuming there may be some change down the track.

"We're expecting to play round one against Gold Coast and until we're told otherwise, we'll just keep planning for that."