WEST Coast forward Jack Darling is a chance to return to the Eagles line-up against Essendon next week if he can get through his first match of the season in the WAFL on Saturday, coach Adam Simpson says. 

Darling has been sidelined for the entire season as the Eagles have been ultra cautious with his recovery a foot stress fracture that he initially suffered in round 23 last season.

The 22-year-old was forced to do a lot of training away from the squad over the summer before slowly building into a running program and then full training over the last two months.

Darling will finally play his first game of the season for East Perth against Swan Districts at Steel Blue Oval on Saturday.

"We'll see how he goes, manage his game time and see how he pulls up," Simpson said on Friday. 

"He's pretty fit. If he can manage 80-90 minutes then we'll look at him next week."

Simpson said the Eagles match committee had considered bringing him back earlier and did even discuss bringing him straight back into the senior side.

"He has been keen," Simpson said. 

"Other coaches have been keen as well but we've really taken a cautious approach. This week is another step." 

The Eagles welcome back young midfielders Elliot Yeo and Dom Sheed for Sunday's clash with North Melbourne at Blundstone Arena in Hobart.

Yeo missed last week's win over Geelong through suspension while Sheed has missed the last two matches with a fractured hand. 

Simpson was particularly pleased to have Yeo back given the form he has been in.

"I was reasonably worried that he wasn't in our side last week and we did contemplate the appeal," Simpson said. 

"But we got through the game, got the win and now we have him back. He's in good form and he adds to our depth." 

Simpson said it was good to have some selection headaches after a torrid run with injury in the early part of the season.

"It's a good problem to have," Simpson said.

"Things can change really quick, I'm really aware of that. We had some good players coming back about three weeks ago and we lost three or four players so it changes every week.

"But this week we had a really good match committee and we think we've got a pretty good side."