West Coast defender Mitch Brown has been ruled out for 8-10 weeks with a fractured thumb, dealing the Eagles' already-depleted AFL backline another massive blow.

Brown suffered the injury during West Coast's seven-point loss to Hawthorn on Saturday, but bravely battled on.

The 22-year-old joins fellow Eagles defenders Beau Waters (elbow) and Brett Jones (arm) on the injury list, while forward Mark LeCras (groin) and midfielder Chris Masten (knee) are still two weeks away from resuming.

Jones, a premiership defender who has shown solid form in the WAFL this season, would have been the frontrunner to replace Brown but suffered a hairline fracture in his arm while playing for Claremont on Saturday.

The Eagles (2-2) have a bye this weekend before hosting Melbourne on April 28.

Waters is adamant he will play again this season, saying his latest elbow injury isn't nearly as bad as the one that threatened his career two years ago.

Waters was sidelined for 18 months when he dislocated his left elbow in mid-2008 but said the right elbow he dislocated in round two wasn't as serious.

"It feels really good, the surgeon's very confident," Waters said on Monday.

"The fact that it's a different dislocation - the left elbow (that I injured in 2008) was out for a lot longer, (because) both ligaments were severely damaged.

"This is only a one-ligament injury.

"I know what needs to be done, I know what I can push and what I can't push."

Waters, who was almost certain to take over the captaincy from Darren Glass at the end of the year, said he had given little thought to whether the injury could hamper his leadership ambitions.

"I think about my role as the vice-captain and how I can best play that.

"If I'm playing football or not playing football on game day, I think I'm still a good leader around the club."

Waters joined forces with teammates Daniel Kerr, Ashton Hams, Sam Butler, Josh Kennedy and Ash Smith on Monday to help promote the Cancer Council's Me No Hair charity - a campaign Waters has been involved with for six years.

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