WEST Coast small forward Willie Rioli is set to miss a third of the season as he recovers from his foot injury, while premiership defender Liam Duggan has been ruled out of Saturday night's blockbuster Grand Final rematch with Collingwood.
Rioli, who booted 28 goals from 24 games in his debut campaign, pulled up with a "problematic" bone stress problem in his left foot shortly after slotting four majors in the final JLT Community Series clash with Fremantle.
The Eagles have had trouble pinpointing a prognosis but expect Rioli will miss approximately another five weeks.
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"It is resolving itself from a pain perspective, but it's a really delicate one that we need to treat accordingly," general manager of football Craig Vozzo said.
"We re-scanned it recently and the doctor's advice is that we give it more time to settle.
"Willie will be doing some aerobic training and a lot of off-legs stuff.
"We'll have a graduated build-up from here, which is quite conservative given the nature of the injury."
Duggan injured his knee during Saturday night's 52-point win over the Giants and played out the match, raising hopes he would be fit to face the Pies.
But the 22-year-old failed to train on Monday and has been ruled out, opening the door for experienced backman Will Schofield to return for another potential bout with red-hot Collingwood star Jordan De Goey.
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Duggan is expected to be fit for the round four Western Derby against the Dockers.
"Duggo suffered an MCL strain of his knee. He played out the game really strongly, but unfortunately coming into Sunday there was a bit of swelling and it probably hasn't settled as quickly as we liked," Vozzo said.
"He'll need to miss a week this week and hopefully we can fast-track him from there."
The Eagles could make three changes to a winning team, with star midfielder Andrew Gaff returning from suspension and small forward Jamie Cripps available after toe surgery.
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Star ruckman Nic Naitanui is also edging closer to a comeback from his second knee reconstruction, and was leaping high during unopposed centre bounce and marking work on Monday at Subiaco Oval.
"We are hoping in the next three or four weeks that he'll be able to do some more main training with the guys, but you'll note that he's doing a little bit more training on ground each week and certainly moving really well," Vozzo said.
"I think we're at the nine-and-a-half-month mark from surgery, so we've got a bit of time to go. We haven't yet set any return to play date.
"It's going to be a milestone-based recovery. So far we are hitting every milestone, but we've got a number to go and hopefully coming towards the middle of the year we'll have some better news for the team and for Nic."
