West Coast Eagles twin towers Josh Kennedy and Jack Darling are eyeing returns against Collingwood, but crafty goalsneak Mark LeCras needs at least three weeks on the sidelines to recover from his wrist injury.
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Both Kennedy and Darling have made big strides in their respective knee and ankle rehabilitation programs but LeCras requires more time than first anticipated to remedy the wrist injury that kept him in Perth at the weekend.
General manager of football Craig Vozzo said the news was not all bad regarding LeCras.
“We got a second opinion from our surgeon as to how to treat Mark’s wrist and it’s been determined that we’ll take a conservative path, which is good news,” Vozzo said.
“We were looking to avoid surgery, which we have done at this stage. He’s probably going to have a three- or four-week break from here to allow the wrist to settle down and then we’re going to re-launch. The good thing is he can continue training in terms of running. We’ll alter his gym work to cater for the wrist, but he’ll still do a hell of a lot of work on the track with the boys, so that he’ll keep his fitness at a really high level.”
Unfortunately Vozzo had nothing positive to say about key defender Eric Mackenzie’s condition.
The footy boss confirmed that the 2014 John Worsfold medallist’s season was all but over.
“It’s really bad news for Eric and for the football club,” Vozzo said.
“It’s been determined after consulting a couple of surgeons that rather than relaunching and trying to get him back up to playing this year the best course of action is rest for his feet to settle down the foot and toe injuries that he’s got at the moment, which is disappointing. But we’ve got to look at the long term health of our players and we’re taking a long term approach.”
In more uplifting news, Tom Barrass (back) will press for selection to play Greater Western Sydney, while Josh Rotham (groin) and Callan England (back) should be available next week after missing East Perth’s stoush with South Fremantle.
Livewire utility Malcolm Karpany (ITB friction) is just three weeks away from taking the field again, but Tony Olango is facing three weeks on the sidelines after injuring his hamstring while making his league debut for the Royals on Saturday.
“Malcolm is all but healed in terms of his ITB problem, which we had the procedure for,” Vozzo said.
“It’s now in a build-up of strength and conditioning and he’s looking better and better each week. The aim is probably still around round 18 AFL.
“Tony pinged a hamstring playing for East Perth’s seniors on the weekend.
“He’d actually displayed some pretty good form before that. It’s a stock-standard hamstring and he’s never had one previously. It’s probably a three-week injury is what we are thinking at this stage.”
