Kerr on track to tackle Lions: Worsfold
West Coast midfielder Daniel Kerr looks set to get the chance to continue his amazing record in season openers, with coach John Worsfold confident he will be fit to take on Brisbane this weekend.
The Eagles' new No.1 on-baller tore his hamstring in the final intra-club match before the first round of the NAB Cup and has not played a pre-season game since.
But having graduated to full running and full training last week, Worsfold said Kerr had just one more task to perform to prove his fitness.
Kerr's inclusion would be a huge boost given his last three round one performances have earned him eight Brownlow votes.
"We are confident, the only thing he hasn't done is kick on his right leg over really long distances," Worsfold told Fairfax radio.
"That is the last little test we will give him, but we are pretty confident, and that is not a real stress test anyway.
"He has really got to be able to run flat out, which he has been doing for over a week now ... so it is all looking good."
The Lions' most recent trip to Perth ended in a shock round 14 win for the visitors last season, which prompted Leigh Matthews to claim the Eagles had treated the fixture as "match practice".
With Worsfold's revamped squad under extra scrutiny following the departures of Ben Cousins and Chris Judd in the off-season, Worsfold said he was considering quickly introducing some of his next generation, including the club's No.1 draft pick Chris Masten.
"He is a chance, and it is fair to say that we have been really pleased with what he has shown in pre-season games and we think he is a talented young player that we would like to get in and going sooner rather than later," Worsfold said.
"Whether that is this week will be determined ... but all three of our kids who are up and going now in (Scott) Selwood, (Brad) Ebert and Masten we have been really pleased with. We think they could come in and add to the side straight away."
And at the other end of the career spectrum, Worsfold has strongly hinted David Wirrpanda's future lies in the forward line.
"Small forwards who can kick goals regularly are pretty hard to come by - and we think he is one of those," Worsfold said.
"That also means we are more confident with the coverage we have in the back half, if we did not have good enough coverage down there I think he would be forced to play back a lot more."
Post a comment about this article
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Becoming a member is free and easy, sign up here.