The West Coast Eagles have “hit a bump in the road” on the injury front and will face a test of their resilience against flag fancies Melbourne on Easter Sunday, coach Adam Simpson says.
The full toll of a bruising RAC Derby was revealed this week, and then compounded by the loss of Dom Sheed (throat) during a warm-up drill at main training on Thursday.
But the silver lining is the opportunity that has opened for some emerging players who have been in strong form for the WAFL Eagles during their three-game unbeaten practice game run.
Midfielders Greg Clark and Connor West deserved their shots, along with Brady Hough, while Jai Culley and Luke Edwards - both named on the extended bench to be trimmed on Friday afternoon - have bright futures ahead.
“It’s just unfortunate that we’ve copped six collision injuries in the last seven days – that’s the game," Simpson said on Good Friday.
“We think we’re making steps forward with what we’re trying to do and we’ve hit a bit of a bump in the road with selection.
“We’ve got to stay as resilient as we possibly can.
“We’ll play some kids. Obviously it’s in our planning to give these guys some exposure, that’ll happen this week. They’re all in pretty good touch at WAFL Eagles, albeit it’s been scratch match footy.
“We’re playing a pretty good opponent as well. It’s an opportunity. We’ve got to stay as positive as we can.
“There’s obviously some long-term injuries there, the fact we’ve made so many changes it’s not normal, so we’ll be OK it just might be a bit of a challenge.
“We had 14 guys play WAFL Eagles last week and they’re all fit, they’re all available and they’re all in pretty good form.”
Positively, two-time John Worsfold medallist Elliot Yeo has been named for his first game for the season coming off a minor calf strain.
“He had a full pre-season, ready to go, so it’s not like he had a long-term injury,” Simpson said.
“Whether we were missing seven players or not, he was going to come back and play.
“He won’t be sub but we’ll have to manage him a little bit. We had a system where we had Reuben (Ginbey), Yeo and (Luke) Shuey working off the half-back line and on-ball, so we might do something like that but we’ll wait-and-see.”
Ginbey was nominated for the Rising Star award this week after a stellar RAC Derby effort under trying circumstances, and the 18-year-old is set for another role facing off against an elite AFL midfield opponent.
Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca loom as massive threats on Sunday, with Ginbey set for time against the bulls following tasks on Luke Davies-Uniacke, Tom Green and Caleb Serong.
“He’s Rising Star this week, which is great. He’s leading the League for tackles, he’s pretty honest how he goes about it, so I don’t think we’re going to see massive fluctuations in form,” Simpson said.
“But he’s playing on the League’s best players every week. We feel like that suits him to go to the best, but this week take your pick, they’re all pretty good.”
