Star defender Jeremy McGovern was pushing to return for Saturday night’s RAC Derby No.59 but the decision had to be taken out of his hands, according to interim coach Jarrad Schofield.
The four-time All-Australian was named among four inclusions in the 23-player squad on Thursday but failed a fitness test on his ribs on Friday morning at Mineral Resources Park.
McGovern has been replaced in the side by Jack Petruccelle, while Alex Witherden (hip) is off the emergency list, replaced by Harvey Johnston and Tyrell Dewar.
“He was close. ’Gov’s’ pretty tough as we all know. For him to want to take it to the line, we had to take it out of his hands in the end, but he just wasn’t right,” Schofield said.
“It wasn’t fair for him to go out there. Tom Barrass’ 150th game, he would’ve loved to be out there with his partner-in-crime, but at the end of the day he wasn’t right.”
The Eagles have settled on three inclusions, with bull Elliot Yeo (neck), 100-game spearhead Jake Waterman (ITB) and veteran Jack Darling returning to the line-up.
Darling has missed the past two matches after being dropped for the first time in his 293-game career.
Schofield hoped the veteran goalkicker could add contest and pressure to the forward line after the Eagles failed to lay a forward 50 tackle against St Kilda.
“We’re thinking he can add to our team where we fell short last week with his contest and pressure work,” he said.
“He’s been training really well. When he went out of the side there was some things he had to work on, he’s done that over the last two weeks, had a WAFL game, did it well at training so he comes in and we’re expecting him to play his role.”
The Eagles caused one of the upsets of the season when they toppled the top-four contending Dockers in round six by 37 points.
An ‘away’ RAC Derby against their in-form rivals will be a different challenge, however it is a mission West Coast is up for.
“It’s another opportunity for us to get better. You’ve got to get excited about Derbies. I’ve been a part of the Showdown in Adelaide, I’ve been a part of Derbies, and I think it’s a great opportunity for our young players to be exposed to this environment,” Schofield said.
“There’s a little bit more in it because it’s two WA teams going at it, but it’s not our Grand Final. We haven’t talked about that.
“It’s about us getting better from last week when we let ourselves down and once again we get a great opportunity to expose our young fellas and for our senior players to lead.”
