STARS Jeremy McGovern, Luke Shuey and Elliot Yeo headline the big-name West Coast players set to face Geelong on managed minutes in Friday's first JLT Community Series clash.

But with spearhead Josh Kennedy (feet) racing the clock for round one and Jamie Cripps (toe) ruled out, coach Adam Simpson has flagged trialing a number of young forwards on an extended eight-man bench.

Speedy small Jack Petruccelle, who starred in last Friday's intraclub with four goals, Jarrod Brander (three), Oscar Allen and Jake Waterman are all in the mix to play alongside main target Jack Darling against the Cats.  

McGovern (ribs), Shuey (adductor) and Yeo (toe) have all been handled carefully to be available for the practice matches and are set to play between 50-70 minutes at Leederville Oval.

"We're building towards round one. We'll have a strong team this week, but it will be about getting some minutes in, so a lot of guys won't play full games," Simpson said.

"So I think we'll start strong and end up with a lot of kids playing.

"(McGovern) will play, but once again he'll be on managed minutes. I think across the board you'll see a lot of sides managing their players.

"We didn't have a practice match, outside of our intraclub last week, so we're probably a week behind where we were last year in terms of our prep, but that's to be anticipated."

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Simpson remained hopeful Kennedy would be ready to face Brisbane in the season-opener, barring any setbacks. 

"Crippa will struggle to get to round one, but we're hoping that JK – nothing going wrong between now and round one he should be available," he said.

"If anyone's seen him run, he's running pretty well at the moment, we've just got to get him on track."

Chris Masten (corked calf), Tom Barrass (foot), Daniel Venables (knee) and Waterman (ankle) are clear to play the Cats after overcoming niggles. 
Experienced backman Will Schofield is doubtful after copping a corked quad during the intraclub, but Brander is fine after taking a hit to his hip and coming from the field in the second term.

The Eagles are unlikely to field any of last year's NAB AFL Draft picks, with Xavier O'Neill, Luke Foley, Bailey Williams and Jarrod Cameron coming off interrupted pre-seasons.

However, former Magpies runner Josh Smith and big men Tom Hickey and Keegan Brooksby are in contention.

Hickey is likely to get first crack partnering Nathan Vardy in the ruck while star Nic Naitanui (ACL) recovers.

Simpson was confident "a pretty humble group" hadn't gotten ahead of themselves after an epic flag triumph, but conceded that wouldn't become fully apparent until matches started again.

"The way in which the game was played and how it was won, you can't hide away from such a special occasion, but we're aware of what's in front of us," Simpson said of the Grand Final. 

"We've been working on 2019 since November, so the fact is we're still going to be asked about it, and the boys still need to answer the questions.

"But we've still got a job to do and there's another season in front of us. That's the challenge for our players mentally."