West Coast skipper Luke Shuey’s low-grade hamstring strains will likely keep him out of action until after round 18, however vice-captains Josh Kennedy and Jeremy McGovern are making strong progress ahead of Sunday’s showdown with the Western Bulldogs.

Meanwhile, midfield bull Elliot Yeo is tracking positively following groin soreness and is setting his sights on playing the final home and away game against North Melbourne.

Shuey was diagnosed with minor strains in both hamstrings after the win over Essendon on Tuesday night and will be managed conservatively given his history of similar setbacks.

“Luke, as we’ve discussed publicly, has got low-grade strains in both the left and right hamstrings,” General Manager – Football Craig Vozzo told westcoasteagles.com.au.

“The good news is that neither is worse than the other and we’ll end up with probably a two-to-three week recovery period.

“Given Luke’s history with hamstrings we’ll probably take a more conservative path, so the prediction from our medical staff is more around the 21 days (recovery), which will have him available as we hopefully, if we can qualify, enter a finals campaign.”

Star spearhead Kennedy just needs to tick off Captain’s Run on Saturday to take his place after concussion, while McGovern (ankle) will be given every chance.

“Gov turned his ankle in the course of the game, fell awkwardly, played out the game really well and probably has recovered better than we anticipated actually in terms of swelling and movement,” Vozzo said.

“He’ll be a test later in the week with a five-day break and we’ll give him every opportunity to get ready.

“Josh is tracking really well. His test results post-concussion were actually very good in the first few days post the incident itself but we wanted to take a quiet and more conservative path for Josh and we’re all glad we’ve done that.

“He trained the house down yesterday with our rehab group, expect him to be available he just has to tick off the Captain’s Run later in the week.”

Young half-forward Jake Waterman is also likely to be in the selection mix after overcoming a fractured hand.

“Jake is tracking really well. He did that rehab work with Josh Kennedy yesterday and had a very heavy session,” Vozzo said.

“Came out of it well and has got good movement, good range with his hand, and all things being equal he’ll do the Captain’s Run and play against the Bulldogs.”

Yeo has missed four matches after developing groin soreness and is likely to sit out another two games against the Dogs and Saints.

“Elliot is tracking well. He is probably looking now at a build into the North Melbourne game,” Vozzo said.

“He was complaining a lot on the track yesterday with all the running and aerobic work he had to do, which is a really good sign for Elliot, it means he’s closer to playing for us.”

After a long absence, speedster Jack Petruccelle is also close to a comeback from from a serious hamstring complaint after being out of the side since round three.

“We’ve taken a more conservative path given the nature of the injury and the type of athlete he is, but he’s ticked every box from a medical perspective. He’ll be available in a week’s time,” Vozzo said.