West Coast coach Andrew McQualter concedes he’s unclear when he’ll have Brandon Starcevich at his disposal, with the boom recruit facing the prospect of missing at least the first quarter of the Eagles’ season.
Starcevich was last week listed in the club’s injury report as three weeks away from being available, as he recovers from repeated calf setbacks following a summer where he also missed a chunk of pre-season with an ACL strain.
But the ex-Brisbane defender’s status was this week downgraded by the club to ‘TBC’, suggesting that timeline will be pushed back. That indicates the earliest the 26-year-old is likely to be available would be for the round six western derby, but both player and coach have acknowledged the likelihood of returning to footy through the WAFL after a significant time away.
“Starc has missed a big chunk so he’s now going to have to build himself back up,” McQualter said on Thursday.
“AFL footy’s so hard when you’ve missed a period of training, so he’s going to have a block now where he just builds his fitness up.
“We don’t have a timeframe on it right now, so he’s going to have to get himself really fit and prepared for the rigours of AFL football.
“He’s a season campaigner. He’s been through injuries before and he’s going to work hard and help us when he comes back.”
McQualter said the club would take a long-term view with the two-time premiership Lion, who also has a history of concussion.
When asked if a WAFL stint was in play for when Starcevich was available, the coach said: “It’s something that is a potential considering the amount of football that he’s missed.”
“We’ll talk about that when the time comes. I think it’s the big picture for Starc,” McQualter said.
“We traded for him for a reason, for a long time, and we’re not looking at a short-term view with him.”
Midfielder Elijah Hewett is set to be available this week after overcoming a minor quad issue in recent weeks, but the 21-year-old is unlikely to replace injured half-forward Milan Murdock for the Eagles’ road clash against Port Adelaide on Sunday.
“Elijah has missed a fair chunk of football as well now so it’s likely he will come back through our WAFL program,” McQualter said.
“We’ve got a practice match this weekend so he’s still got to get through main training yet, he hasn’t been able to complete it yet.
“We think there’s so much upside for him and hopefully he has a clean run at it because he will be important for us.”