West Coast skipper Luke Shuey needs to tick a few boxes during Friday’s match simulation and at training next week, but is confident he will be leading the Eagles into battle against Gold Coast in round one.
The inspirational midfielder has been sorely missed at times over the past two seasons and is on the comeback from a hamstring strain suffered on January 25 at training.
Despite a variety of soft-tissue setbacks, Shuey’s confidence in his body hasn’t wavered and the 2018 Norm Smith medallist expects to be ready to face the Suns on March 20 at Optus Stadium.
“That’s the plan,” Shuey said during AFL Captains Day.
“We’ll have a big hit-out Friday this week, which I’ll do, and then tick a few boxes next week hopefully and lace up the boots round one.
“It’s been about seven weeks since I did my hammy. If I was 22 I would have played two weeks ago against Freo.
“The fact I’m 31 and had a bit of a soft-tissue run changes things, but no I’m feeling fine.”
While it’s been a frustrating run for Shuey, who has played 22 of a possible 40 games since becoming captain, his energy, leadership and positivity has never changed around the club – even when his teammates have enjoyed a joke at his expense.
“The boys reckon I’ve got hammies made out of Weet-Bix at the moment,” Shuey said with a laugh.
“If you can’t have a laugh at that, your time in the game is probably up.”
While none of the 17 opposition captains tipped the Eagles to make the top eight this season, Shuey’s excitement and optimism is bubbling away 11 days out from the opening game.
“I get the narrative around it. We were poor last year and we haven’t had a great summer on the injury front, so it probably looks all doom and gloom from the outside looking in,” he said.
“But we’re really excited internally about some of the new things we’ve implemented over the summer and what some of our young guys have shown.
“I think ‘Bung’ (Shannon Hurn) and ‘JK’ (Josh Kennedy) made the right call to go on one more year, that’s going to help as well having some experienced heads out there while a few of us aren’t.
“We’re confident. We’re really bullish about what the year holds for us.
“Time will tell, but we can’t wait.”
