No Easy replacement for Eagles
Eric Mackenzie is a type of player you can't really replace and West Coast will have to test some options over the remaining weeks of the pre-season, according to coach Adam Simpson.
Speaking on Adelaide radio yesterday ahead of his team's match against Port Adelaide at Norwood Oval on Sunday, Simpson said that without the man they call Easy, West Coast could not take it for granted that the opposition's best forward would be shut down.
The 2014 John Worsfold medallist will miss the 2015 season after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in West Coast's opening NAB Challenge win over Carlton in Mandurah last Friday.
Will Schofield, Jeremy McGovern and Mitch Brown are possible but not proven replacements for Mackenzie who has been unlucky to miss All-Australian selection in the past two seasons.
"There is a type of player you can't really replace," Simpson said. "You can't put a number on how many goals he saved us last year but the fact is that we have got to (replace him).
"Last year was just: 'Easy, you play on the best player and away you go, get it done.'
"We have probably got to put a bit more work into our key defenders. They are champing at the bit to fill the void though, they are really excited about some opportunity but we need to trial some things in the next few weeks because it is not just a walk-up- get-the-job-done type of attitude any more."
Simpson said pre-season injuries were inevitable as clubs switched from training to games.
As well as Mackenzie, the Eagles have lost ruckman Callum Sinclair to a thumb injury and Simon Tunbridge reported for X-rays the day after the Carlton game and trained away from the main group at an Eagles training session at UWA Sports Park on Tuesday morning.
"You can't just turn up for round one and hope that you can handle the rigours of AFL," Simpson said.
"We lost two or three guys at the weekend with collision injuries. A couple of broken thumbs, someone had a fractured finger, as well as Mackenzie's knee. I think every year you are going to get some injuries."
Ruckman Nic Naitanui also trained away from the main group on Tuesday with Tunbridge but Simpson hoped he would play against Port this weekend and declared his ruck trump "better prepared than he has ever been" for an AFL season.
"There is always pressure on Nic and that is fair enough, he is a franchise player, so to speak," Simpson said.
