A yr on from the horror fortnight of accidents that ruined their 2022, West Coast’s tall ahead shares are teetering.
Spearheads Jack Darling (ankle), Jack Williams (ruptured spleen) and Oscar Allen (hamstring tightness) sat out Friday evening’s intraclub with accidents, simply 4 weeks out from spherical one.
Whereas Darling and Allen are more likely to be match for the season opener in opposition to North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium on March 18, their preparation has been compromised by accidents.
Allen’s harm is believed to solely be minor, however all eyes will likely be on the 23-year-old when the Eagles practice on Monday morning forward of a observe match in opposition to Port Adelaide at Mineral Sources Park on Friday.
But it surely was about this time final yr when a sore foot sidelined Allen earlier than he was finally dominated out for the season.
West Coast fielded a small assault within the intraclub match, with ruckman Bailey Williams and fringe ahead Jake Waterman beginning as the important thing targets, whereas Liam Ryan was alongside smaller forwards Noah Lengthy, Jamie Cripps and Samo Petrevski-Seton.
Defenders Tom Barrass and Harry Edwards additionally frolicked taking part in ahead, giving coach Adam Simpson a take a look at what they might do if they’re wanted for a positional change early within the season.
Simpson flagged on Tuesday that Allen could be rested for the intraclub earlier than it emerged he had a sore hamstring, whereas Darling was unlikely to play in any clashes main into spherical one.
“He (Allen) did not play a sport final yr and hasn’t missed a session over pre-season,” Simpson mentioned.
“He had a stress-related harm so we’re simply ensuring we do not prepare dinner him too early.
“He will not play this week within the intraclub … we’ll handle our gamers as we have to.”
It comes as North Melbourne key defenders Griffin Logue and Ben McKay stood out of their intraclub on Saturday morning forward of their spherical one assembly with West Coast.
“Him (Logue) and ‘Buckets’ (McKay), the combo of them is fairly damaging by way of aerial prowess and marking the footy,” Kangaroos midfield coach Jordan Russell mentioned.
“He is solely been right here for 3 or 4 months however he is truly solely been on the monitor for a few weeks, and you’ll see how shortly he is slotted into the system.”
Skipper Luke Shuey (managed), midfielder Dom Sheed (marriage ceremony), Jack Petruccelle (ankle), Luke Edwards (quad), Zane Trew and Rhett Bazzo (each private) had been others who missed the 100-minute session below lights.
West Coast’s “greatest crew” line-up in Friday’s intraclub
Q: N Lengthy B Williams J Waterman
HF: J Cripps L Ryan S Petrevski-Seton
C: C Chesser J Culley J Hunt
HB: L Duggan T Barrass E Yeo
B: S Hurn J McGovern A Witherden
RUCK: N Naitanui T Kelly R Ginbey
I/C: J Jones A Gaff T Cole X O’Neill
ABSENT: L Shuey D Sheed O Allen J Williams J Darling R Bazzo Z Trew J Petruccelle L Edwards
