Premiership forward Jamie Cripps will make a case for an AFL recall at training later this week, while star ruckman Nic Naitanui has made strides in his recovery from an ankle injury.
Click here to view the St John of God Health Care Injury List
General manager of football Craig Vozzo said Cripps, who suffered an adductor injury during the club’s round 17 encounter with Collingwood, needed to get some more work in before resuming at the highest level.
Cripps will undergo a fitness test at main training.
As for Naitanui, he recently resumed on-ground running and kicking at Eagles HQ.
However, Vozzo said the club had not set a return to play date for the marquee big man.
“We’re on track at the moment with Nic, not setting any return to play date at this stage and dealing with it on a milestone-basis,” Vozzo said.
“So far he’s hitting every milestone within his rehab.”
Two of West Coast's most exciting talents went down in the WAFL at the weekend, with premiership defender Liam Duggan re-aggravating his ankle ailment and Jarrod Brander suffering a season-ending hamstring injury.
Vozzo said the club’s medical staff was still assessing the extent of Duggan and Brander’s injuries.
“Liam unfortunately copped a whack in the lower leg early in the game playing for the WAFL Eagles,” Vozzo said.
“It’s probably re-aggravated the area of his ankle ligament injury.
“We’re not sure exactly yet what we’re dealing with; he’s progressed probably better than we’d anticipated when he originally sustained the injury.
“But we’re still in the process of diagnosis before we decide the course of action.”
“Unfortunately Jarrod suffered a nasty hamstring injury at the weekend.
“It’s looking like, maybe, surgery might be required. We’re working down that path at the moment seeking a surgical opinion in the next few days.
“We’ll decide a course of action from there, but it’s definitely, unfortunately, a long-term injury.”
In more positive news, speedy midfielder Josh Smith has made good progress in his recovery from a hamstring injury and could be available for selection at the time of the pre-finals bye.
“He’ll be doing some on-ground work next week. We’re hopeful he should be available around about the bye period,” Vozzo said.
Vozzo also confirmed that Luke Foley, who missed Saturday’s WAFL Eagles clash with Swan Districts due to a calf injury, would need another week to get up to speed.
“Unfortunately for Luke he had that calf injury recurrence in the WAFL recently, so he missed the game last week,” Vozzo said.
“Because it’s a recurrence we’ll take a more conservative path with the young fella and we’ll see how we build him up over the next couple of weeks ready for the last phase of the year.”
