SAM MITCHELL is crossing his fingers he will be fit for a blockbuster return to face former club Hawthorn, after fearing he had broken his leg during West Coast's win over Sydney.
The veteran Eagles recruit has been in intensive recovery since Thursday night's clash – when he was collected just above his left ankle by Jack Redden's swinging leg - and could need all of West Coast's 10-day break to take his place at the MCG on Sunday.
"It's OK. It's not 100 per cent, but it's better than it was," Mitchell told AFL.com.au.
"If you had of asked me on Saturday morning I would have said 'I'm in a fair bit of trouble for a few weeks', but it's come good the last couple of days so fingers crossed.
"I'm not ruled out at this stage, so I'm working towards it.
"They gave me a pretty good machine that does compression and ice, so there's been a couple of long nights.
"It was pretty sore for the first 48 hours, so I was up most of the night trying to ice it and I couldn't put any weight on it.
"I was on crutches for a couple of days. Now I can weight-bear again and now I'm just trying to get the range of movement and get rid of a bit more of the swelling."
Mitchell's ankle twisted awkwardly after being struck hard by Redden's swinging leg midway through the second term and the champion midfielder was helped from the ground in obvious pain.
After receiving treatment in the rooms, he returned for the second half and played out the match – finishing with 17 touches and seven tackles - despite clearly struggling with the injury.
"To be honest, when I first did it I thought 'Yeah, I've broken my leg here'," the 34-year-old said.
"I knew it wasn't good.
"As I went down I thought 'Gee, I've snapped my shin'. I felt it and it was all there and in place.
"It wasn't as bad as it could have been."
Mitchell has boxes to tick to prove his fitness, starting with running on the Alter-G anti-gravity treadmill and progressing towards load-bearing jogging and turning later this week.
"I'll know if it's right or not," he said.
Amid his intensive rehabilitation, Mitchell has barely given thought to playing his former club, where he won four premierships, five best and fairests and the 2012 Brownlow Medal during an illustrious 307-game career in brown and gold.
But the Hawks great admitted he would feel some nerves before facing the likes of long-time teammates Luke Hodge, Cyril Rioli and Jarryd Roughead for the first time since his bombshell trade last year.
"If the ball is in between me or Roughy, or me and lots of the boys that are there that you're still mates with and talk with all the time, that would certainly be different," he said.
"Even going to Melbourne and seeing the fans. If the ankle comes good and I'm right to go, then it will certainly be an interesting experience."
