West Coast skipper Luke Shuey will be monitored ahead of Saturday night’s important clash with Brisbane after copping some heavy knocks during the Eagles’ loss to Gold Coast.
Meanwhile, tagger Mark Hutchings has suffered a small setback in his rehabilitation from a knee issue and is facing a month out of action.
Shuey bravely fought on through a buffeting in the 44-point Suns defeat trying to lift those around him and is expected to be available against the Lions - who are also 1-1 after two rounds - despite a bruising return to football.
“Luke copped a couple of blows to the head. He is looking a bit worse for wear at the moment, so he’ll go through a slow build through the week and consult our doctor and do all the normal concussion protocols,” General Manager – Football Craig Vozzo told westcoasteagles.com.au.
“I think he will be OK but obviously we have to go through the formal channels and hopefully he is out there training for the majority of session on Wednesday and then work into a captain’s run (on Friday), but we’ll see later in the week.”
Hutchings is the most senior Eagle on the sidelines and the premiership midfielder is facing an uphill battle to be sighted in matchplay while West Coast is based in Queensland.
“Hutch has had a setback with his ITB (iliotibial band) problem, the insertion into the knee area, and he has had some treatment which has required him to lie low for about a week,” Vozzo said.
“He’ll do some more running on Friday is the plan and it’s probably a four-to-five week process from there.”
In more positive news, exciting forward Jarrod Cameron is eyeing a return to match minutes in the Eagles’ scrimmage against Brisbane’s reserves on Saturday after dealing with groin issues for a large chunk of 2020.
“Jarrod is in good spirit and physically he has made really good progress over the last fortnight,” Vozzo said.
“We’re hopeful if he gets through training he will have some game minutes in our scrimmage match this weekend.”
Young ruckman Callum Jamieson (shoulder) might also play some football this weekend, while fellow draftees Ben Johnson (shoulder) and Mitch O’Neill (back) are still some time away.
After dealing with shoulder and more recently hamstring issues in his short time at West Coast, dangerous forward Nic Reid could also run out for the Eagles reserves.
“Nic is going well. He’s slowly but surely,” Vozzo said.
“A bit like Jarrod, if he can get through a good session tomorrow night we’re hoping he can play some game minutes in our scrimmage match on the weekend.”
