JOHN Longmire isn't ruling out Dan Hannebery and Jarrad McVeigh from Sunday's clash with West Coast despite the star duo having injury-interrupted pre-seasons.
Both veterans have had their preparations hampered by calf concerns, with neither taking part in the JLT Community Series.
However, Longmire told RSN Radio on Tuesday morning he would give the important pair every chance to prove their fitness ahead of the trip to Perth.
"They've been training, and training really well, so that's a good sign," Longmire said.
"We've got a training session today and one on Thursday, so we'll sit back and make those decisions.
"They're putting their case forward in a training sense, so we'll make that (selection) call Thursday."
The club's ruck division has also been injury hit, with Sam Naismith succumbing to an ACL tear that will sideline him for the season and Kurt Tippett forced into early retirement with an ankle injury.
Callum Sinclair is the man likely to square off against Nic Naitanui if the Eagles star is passed fit to return from a knee reconstruction.
Sinclair has had his own injury concerns, hurting his ankle in a JLT Community Series match against Brisbane on March 3.
"We've got Sinclair who we expect to come back into the team this week and play after rolling his ankle a couple of weeks ago," Longmire said.
"We probably played six or seven games last year with only one ruckman, so we've done that before.
"We were probably thinking of going along those lines anyway, and we'll just have to come up with different ways (to compete in the ruck)."
Longmire said key forward Sam Reid, versatile tall Aliir Aliir and untried ruckman Darcy Cameron were all in the equation to assist Sinclair.