WEST Coast forward Josh Kennedy could be required to wear an elbow brace for the next month after a tackle gone wrong, but coach Adam Simpson says he is not in doubt for round one.
Kennedy, who has completed an excellent pre-season, will sit out Friday's internal hitout at Mineral Resources Park and has been instructed to wear the brace when he is not playing or training.
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Simpson said it was no reason to panic as goalkicking sidekick Jack Darling (cheekbone) pushes to be available for the season-opener against Melbourne on March 21.
The coach said Kennedy's elbow concern was not related to the injury he played through in 2015.
"He got a little bit of a knock on his elbow so you'll see him with a brace, (but) let's not get too panicky," Simpson said ahead of Thursday's season launch.
"He's OK, he's available to play and the doctors have suggested while he's not training or playing he needs to wear this brace around.
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"He won't play tomorrow. The plan was always to manage his minutes last week and we did that.
"He got through the game and now it's just a precautionary thing."
Speaking on stage at the Eagles' season launch, Kennedy described the issue as a "tweak" and said he would tape it and play when the new season starts.
The Eagles will have an intraclub hitout on Friday, playing one half after training as the match committee zeroes on a number of selection dilemmas ahead of round one.
Simpson said star defender Jeremy McGovern had proved his fitness ahead of round one, playing restricted minutes against Fremantle after recovering from heel surgery.
Darling, meanwhile, will play after being held out of contact drills and both pre-season games with a fractured cheekbone.
Key tall Oscar Allen said he felt good after a pre-season interrupted by hernia and ankle issues and he would push for round one selection in Friday's hitout.
The major decision confronting the match committee next week is the second ruck position, which Simpson declared was still open as second-year ruckman Bailey Williams and premiership big man Nathan Vardy battle for selection.
"He'll train, I don't know if he'll play," Simpson said of Williams. "It looks like he'll sign off on his hamstring tomorrow.
"That spot's up for grabs, so we'll have to assess it more on what he's done.
"Vardy has played a couple of games, (Tom) Hickey has had a bit of an interrupted pre-season, but he's played the last two WAFL games and been pretty good."
New Eagle Tim Kelly received a loud applause at Thursday's season launch when he was officially handed his No.11 jumper from former Eagle and Brownlow medallist Matt Priddis.
