West Coast coach Adam Simpson is bracing for another “massive challenge” at Marvel Stadium against a St Kilda side on the rebound this Saturday.
The Eagles went down narrowly to the Bulldogs in arguably the game of the season last trip to Melbourne in round two, and will be back under the roof to face the Saints in a crucial game for both teams.
West Coast steadied the season at 2-1 with an encouraging 37-point victory over Port Adelaide, while 2020 semi-finalist St Kilda has been in the Melbourne media’s spotlight following consecutive losses to Melbourne and Essendon and will be setting themselves to bounce back.
“Another massive challenge for us,” Simpson told Channel Seven.
“We’ve got the Saints on the rebound, which is always very dangerous, so looking forward to the challenge.”
The Eagles will have to take on the talented Saints without their skipper after Luke Shuey’s reoccurrence of a hamstring strain soured the Power triumph.
West Coast will consider scaling back Shuey’s training workload as part of the investigation into the dynamic midfielder’s soft-tissue woes.
He cast a dejected figure on the bench in the dying minutes of the match, having produced a remarkable 28-disposal and seven-clearance performance in just 58 per cent game time – 22 days since his last minor strain.
“It’s something we’ve experienced before and we have to go back to the drawing board to try and get him right,” Simpson said.
“It’s just reoccurred probably too many times now. It’s not just a hamstring; it’s other soft-tissue injuries. We need to look at how he trains because he goes so hard. His output during the week is just as high as game day.
“Albeit he got to the line really well, he looked really comfortable during the weeks and to prepare, so we’ve got to dig a bit deeper.
“We’ve got to look at other alternatives.”
While Shuey’s injury was flattening, star wingman Andrew Gaff returned to his elite ball-winning ways with 36 touches and 2020 All Australians Nic Naitanui and Liam Ryan repeatedly wowed the Optus Stadium crowd.
Almost half of Naitanui’s deft hitouts (12 of 26) were to a teammate’s advantage, while Ryan pulled down another screamer and contributed two goals with an equal game-high nine score involvements.
“He keeps it pretty simple, ‘Flyin’. He’s obviously taken what he’s learnt throughout his junior days and plays to his strengths,” Simpson said.
“But I’ve said this before, what was really pleasing about Liam is his fitness and his ability to defend as well as attack.
“(Naitanui) is going OK,” Simpson added wryly. “He’s been going OK for a long period of time. We really did miss him in ’18 and ’19 in particular.
“He won our best and fairest last year and he hasn’t missed a beat this year.”
The Saints clash will mark two major milestones with Brad Sheppard chalking up 200 games and former skipper Shannon Hurn equalling Dean Cox's club record 290 games.
Recruit Alex Witherden is set to be available for the trip east after he was offered a reprimand with an early guilty plea for his striking report in the WAFL in Saturday's spirited loss to Perth at Mineral Resources Park.
