West Coast stars Jeremy McGovern and Jack Darling are in the mix to face Fremantle in Saturday’s Marsh Community Series clash at HBF Arena.
McGovern underwent surgery to remove a piece of bone which was rubbing on his Achilles tendon last November.
The four-time All Australian defender has ramped up his training recently and could be back to take on the Dockers in Joondalup.
“I think his last three weeks have exceeded our expectations,” general manager football Craig Vozzo told westcoasteagles.com.au.
“He’s in really good physical condition, he’s kept himself in a really good state over this rehab period, developed some really good aerobic fitness and we’re hopeful he’ll play some game minutes against Freo on the weekend.”
Darling has also been getting through a power of work since sustaining a small cheekbone fracture at training last month.
“Physically he looks in super condition, moving really well, it’s just the contact work given the fracture that we’ve been avoiding deliberately,” Vozzo said.
“We’ll make a decision later in the week as to whether he plays in consultation with our doctor.”
Young tall Oscar Allen is another Eagle who could return to football this weekend after an interrupted pre-season, which included a minor ankle tweak last Friday.
Meanwhile, Luke Foley (pubic bone stress) is aiming for WAFL practice match time in coming weeks after a gradual training build up.
However, the news is not as positive for emerging duo Jarrod Cameron and Tom Cole, who fractured his thumb late against Essendon last Thursday.
“Unfortunately, Jarrod Cameron over a period has redeveloped this pubic bone stress injury,” Vozzo said.
“As it isn’t the first time it’s occurred we’re going to take a more conservative approach this time.
“He’s probably going to have at least a month of no running and pretty limited activities which obviously will delay his start to the season, and how quickly we elevate his training will be dependent on symptoms as we progress through the process.
“We thought we got through unscathed versus Essendon last week but late in the game Tom Cole suffered a thumb injury which unfortunately ended up being a fracture which is going to have to be operated on.
“It means that Tom is going to miss a significant period of time, probably something in the order of six-to-eight weeks at this point in time, but he’ll still be able to run and keep himself fit so hopefully time out of the game won’t be too extensive.”
