The West Coast Eagles could be boosted by the returns of Elliot Yeo and Shannon Hurn from groin injuries for Saturday night’s clash with Essendon at Optus Stadium.
Two-time club champion Yeo has been sidelined since the round five loss to Geelong, while games record holder Hurn has missed the past two matches.
“Elliot has done a good block of work and has progressed really well from his adductor strain. If he has a good week of training this week he’ll be available for the weekend,” Head of Health Mark Finucane told westcoasteagles.com.au.
“Shannon has missed the last couple of weeks with the adductor. He settled down nicely and did a really big session on the weekend and just has to get through training this week to play on the weekend.”
After jarring his knee late in the heavy loss to Hawthorn, spearhead Oscar Allen will have a light start to the week before pushing to take his place, while stand-in captain Liam Duggan trained on Tuesday.
Full-back Tom Barrass and Luke Edwards have also overcome the bouts of illness which kept them out of the trip to Launceston last round.
The club is awaiting surgeon’s advice about dashing half-back Jamaine Jones’ ankle but he is facing a stint on the sidelines.
“JJ got landed on in an awkward tackling incident on the weekend. He is getting an opinion from a surgeon later this week as to whether it does require surgery or not,” Finucane said.
“At the moment we’ll see him stabilise in a boot and crutches and take the weight off that and we’ll get further clarity on his management going forward.”
With Yeo and Hurn set to return this week – plus draftee Coby Burgiel available again after a hamstring strain – the Eagles are gradually regaining some more players.
Skipper Luke Shuey and vice-captain Jeremy McGovern are also not far away from putting their hands up.
“Jeremy has done a power of work in the gym and his strength numbers have come up really nicely,” Finucane said.
“We’ll see him in more and more training over the next couple of weeks and build his high-speed running which is the latter stage rehabilitation from his hamstring.
“Luke is building his intensity of his running really well and will join the group tomorrow night at training and do extra speed before and extra volume after.
“His big sessions to mimic a game, he’s building those up. Will get a couple more weeks of that and hopefully see him back out there.”
Injury list:
Oscar Allen Knee Test
Tom Cole Ankle 6-7 weeks
Jamie Cripps Ankle 9-10 weeks
Jai Culley Knee Season
Jack Darling Arm 3-4 weeks
Shannon Hurn Adductor Test
Jamaine Jones Ankle TBC
Jeremy McGovern Hamstring 4-5 weeks
Nic Naitanui Achilles 6-7 weeks
Samo Petrevski-Seton Quad 2-3 weeks
Liam Ryan Hamstring 7-9 weeks
Luke Shuey Ankle/Hamstring 2-3 weeks
Isiah Winder Knee 7-9 weeks
Elliot Yeo Groin Test
