Intercept-marking defender Jeremy McGovern is “more likely than unlikely” to return from a hamstring strain in West Coast’s sudden death final against Collingwood, coach Adam Simpson has revealed.

Meanwhile, champion full-forward Josh Kennedy is also a strong chance to take his place after tweaking his ankle in the final home and away season clash.

McGovern went down in round 17 on the stroke of half-time against St Kilda, and will have had 23 days to recover by next Saturday’s elimination final at Optus Stadium.

The four-time All Australian has been moving well in track work this week in a promising sign he will take his spot against the Pies.

“I’m pretty confident. He has pretty much ticked off all the protocols to return to play but he’s got to get through a week of training,” Simpson told ABC Sports Talk.

“For anyone who had done a hamstring there’s that period where you’re running around thinking about it and all of a sudden you stop thinking about it and you just get on with playing.

“He’s probably got to get through that mental barrier this week, which every player goes through.

“The fact he gets a full week of training we’ll be able to make a really clear decision by the end of the week.

“I do think he’s more likely than unlikely.”

Kennedy was put on ice early in the round 18 win over North Melbourne and was on light duties this week as the Eagles give his rolled ankle as much time as possible to heal before testing it out.

“We haven’t seen him train this week. I think this morning he might have run a few laps and had a couple of shots at goal,” Simpson said.

“It’s not his kicking foot, it’s his left ankle, so he’s able to have set shots. We just don’t want to test it too early in case it flares up a little bit.

“I reckon as all players do they test it on their own. He’s in a good mood, which is always a good sign.”

If both bookends take their places, the Eagles will be close to full-strength with skipper Luke Shuey (hamstrings), Jack Redden (thumb), Lewis Jetta (calf) and Mark Hutchings (hamstring) all set to be available.

Despite conceding some risk bringing back a raft of players from injury together, Simpson believed it was a gamble worth taking.

“I think you can (bring in too many players at once). There’s a tipping point, but what’s pleasing with our group I suppose is the injuries we’ve had to our players are short-term,” he said.

“They’ve all been two-or-three-week (injured) players. If you’re bringing back four or five players who are coming off six or seven weeks break I think there’s definitely a cause for more concern.

“But the guys we’ve got returning … they’re all pros. It’s not like they’re young players who are still forging their careers, they all know what the dynamics need to be.

“We trained yesterday with a lot of those guys, we did 20 minutes of match sim and it felt like normal.

“There’s risk, there’s definitely risk, but it’s going to have to be a risk we need to take.”

Entering his sixth-straight finals campaign as senior coach, Simpson will face rival mentor Nathan Buckley for the clubs’ third post-season meeting in as many seasons.

West Coast defeated the Pies twice in nailbiting encounters in 2018, including the famous Grand Final comeback win, and Simpson knows what to expect from the Pies, and vice versa.

Retiring backman Will Schofield was instrumental in the premiership-decider keeping a tight leash on dangerman Jordan De Goey, and he could have a part to play in October.

Simpson paid tribute to the versatile defender after a “tremendous” career of 194 games so far, hailing Schofield’s ability to adapt to playing on talls and smalls as required.

“He’s still got that (speed). I think he’s adapted to whatever is going to get him a game,” Schofield said.

“When we lost two or three key position players with (Eric) Mackenzie and (Mitch) Brown in ’15, he played key position, played on the bigs.

“And then he had a couple of years where he could play tall or small, and he transitioned back to playing on the bigs in the last 12 months.

“He’s lost a heap of weight. I reckon he’s lost five or six kilos this season and it’s to adapt once again to what we might need in the back end of the season, that is a guy who can play on talls and smalls.

“He has got a really strong, lasting legacy at our footy club, because of those things I just spoke about, his ability to adapt and do whatever is best for the side.”