The West Coast Eagles have breathed a sigh of relief with in-form midfielder Jack Redden only set to miss a short period after copping a leg knock in last round’s loss to Sydney.
While Redden's prognosis was relatively good injury news to come from the dire Swans clash, small forward Jamaine Jones has a high ankle sprain and defender Alex Witherden’s recurrence of a groin issue is still being investigated.
Redden’s injury is similar to the hairline fracture spearhead Josh Kennedy battled in the second half of 2018 which cost him three games.
“Jack, it’s actually his leg. He copped a knock on the side of his leg, similar to what ‘JK’ suffered a few years ago,” General Manager – Football Craig Vozzo told westcoasteagles.com.au.
“It’s a little fracture at the top of his bone below the knee, which is probably a two-to-three-week process to heal.
“It’s not as bad as Josh suffered a few years ago. The early signs are good, he’s up and mobile and he’ll do a little bit more next week.
“But it’s a short-term problem, fortunately.”
Jones’ ankle was twisted awkwardly against Sydney and the 22-year-old is in a moon boot and facing more than a month out, while Witherden is battling groin soreness.
“Unfortunately, Jamaine suffered a high-ankle sprain – or otherwise known as syndesmosis – and some ligament damage. He’ll be a period of time out, at least six weeks,” Vozzo said.
“Unfortunately for Alex he’s suffered a reoccurrence of the groin problem that kept him out a couple of months ago before he returned to play.
“We’re just working through the problem itself and the degree of it before making a final position in terms of weeks out.”
In better news, ball magnet Andrew Gaff has recovered from a fractured thumb and is named to face North Melbourne, alongside returning forward Liam Ryan (suspension).
Meanwhile, draftee Isiah Winder (knee) and mid-season rookie Connor West (ankle) will both be back for the WAFL Eagles against Swan Districts on Saturday.
“Andrew was nearly available to play last week. Didn’t quite get there with his ball-handling and confidence in that thumb last week with the fracture,” Vozzo said.
“But a lot better this week and he trained really well yesterday and he’s available to play.
“Great to have Izzy Winder back. It’s been a long haul with the knee problem he suffered quite a number of weeks ago now.
“He played some minutes in a little scrimmage game we had last week and that was a good introduction to some game volumes this week at the WAFL level.
“Connor West, like Izzy Winder, played some game minutes in the little scrimmage game we had, he trained the house down this week and is available this week to play WAFL.”
Injury list:
Jarrod Cameron Ankle TBC
Will Collins Hamstring 2-3 weeks
Jamaine Jones Ankle 6 weeks
Jack Redden Leg 2-3 weeks
Daniel Venables Concussion TBC
Alex Witherden Groin TBC
