Waalitj Marawar ruck Matt Flynn is set to play his first game for the club when he returns from injury for the WAFL Eagles on Saturday.
Meanwhile, star midfielder Elliot Yeo (groin) is a test for Sunday’s road trip to face Kuwarna (Adelaide) and youngster Clay Hall (hand) is also available.
Flynn suffered a tendon injury where the hamstring meets the knee from an innocuous incident at training in February, and after a diligent rehabilitation the former Giants big man is ready for action.
“Good news for ‘Flynny’, he’ll play his first game for the club this weekend, so assuming he gets through training on Thursday we’ll see him out there,” High Performance Manager Mat Inness told westcoasteagles.com.au.
“Clay Hall had a hand injury from the last WAFL game but he full-trained today and he’ll play this weekend also.”
Yeo just fell short of playing in the win over Narmm on Sunday and is hoping to make the trip to Adelaide after two games on the sidelines.
Speedster Jack Petruccelle suffered a low-grade syndesmosis injury against Collingwood in round nine and will miss at least one more match.
“’Yeoy’ is going really well. He had a good session on the weekend with the WAFL players, so assuming he gets through training on Thursday he’ll play as well,” Inness said.
“’Petch’ started running today. It’s probably a bit too soon to say he’ll play this week, so he’ll miss this week, but we expect to see him not long after that.”
Co-captain Oscar Allen is progressing well towards his comeback from a knee problem, likely after the bye, while developing talls Callum Jamieson (hamstring) and Harry Barnett (shin) could return next week.
“Oscar Allen is building up his running load. He’ll start to come into some drills later this week or early next week, and then we’ll see him out there in the next three-to-four weeks, hopefully,” Inness said.
“’Jamo’s’ hamstring, he’s been starting to get up to some speed. He won’t play this week but he’s not far away either.
“Harry Barnett has started running. Unfortunately, he will miss this week as well but we expect to see him back the week after, hopefully.”
In a positive development, dynamic onballer Elijah Hewett was back running at Mineral Resources Park on Tuesday following foot surgery.
“’Hewy’ ran for the first time today, which is great news for him,” Inness said.
“Hopefully over the next week we’ll be able to put a timeframe around him. He’s still a bit away from playing but it’s great to see him back out there running.”
Key defender Rhett Bazzo (groin) is progressing somewhat slower than hoped.
“Rhett Bazzo has taken a little bit longer than expected with his groin, so he is on a bit of a holding pattern,” Inness said.
“He is running straight-line and once he ticks some boxes from a straight-line point-of-view then we start to take him off line, but he is a bit slower than expected.”
Injury list:
Oscar Allen Knee 3 weeks
Harry Barnett Shin 1-2 weeks
Rhett Bazzo Groin 4-5 weeks
Elijah Hewett Foot Post-bye
Callum Jamieson Hamstring 1 week
Noah Long Knee Season
Jack Petruccelle Ankle 1-2 weeks
Elliot Yeo Groin Test
