WEST Coast goalsneak Willie Rioli has been ruled out of Saturday night's clash with Greater Western Sydney and is facing an indefinite spell on the sidelines as the Eagles continue to investigate his foot issue.  

However, in better news, small forward Jamie Cripps is a chance to make a surprise early return from toe surgery alongside star spearhead Josh Kennedy in his 200th club game. 

Rioli, who booted 28 goals in his debut season, is battling a stress reaction in his foot and didn't train at Subiaco Oval on Tuesday. 

MEDICAL ROOM The full AFL injury list ahead of round two

"We are still investigating at the moment and finalising our medical opinion," general manager of football Craig Vozzo said. 

"We just need one more scan to come through until we set a date in terms of return to play. 

"We’ll have some more news once we get some advice from our medical team on what the likely period of 'out' is."

Cripps has made encouraging progress and could bolster an attack which was flooded with youth in a season-opening 44-point loss to Brisbane.

Focal point Jack Darling was the most experienced forward with 173 games, followed by Jake Waterman (17), Liam Ryan (14), Jack Petruccelle (four), Oscar Allen (three) and Jarrod Brander (two).  

"Jamie Cripps has made terrific progress over the last four-to-six weeks, actually," Vozzo said.

"He is raring to go and will be available for game minutes this weekend, is the good news, assuming we have no setbacks between now and then." 

The Eagles were missing four of their top five goalkickers from last season against the Lions, after opting not to risk Kennedy following foot soreness.

The dual Coleman medallist is set to take his place against the Giants for a triple milestone alongside skipper Shannon Hurn (250 games) and Chris Masten (200).

MATCH PREVIEW West Coast v Greater Western Sydney

"We obviously had the setback last week; he wasn’t quite ready to play on the advice of our staff," Vozzo said.

"He had a really significant training session at the end of last week, followed by another significant session yesterday. 

"All being well, if he gets through main training this week we expect to have Josh available to play." 

Darling and ruck-forward Nathan Vardy have overcome heavy knocks and will be fine for the marquee clash, when the Eagles will raise their premiership flag.

Grand Final star Will Schofield won't be in the side, but has recovered from a corked thigh that bled heavily after colliding with Tom Hickey in an intraclub match on February 22.

Schofield will play for West Coast's WAFL side against East Fremantle on Saturday morning, with youngsters Xavier O'Neill (knee) and Jarrod Cameron (ankle) also likely to be cleared for action.

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