WEST Coast faces some huge personnel concerns ahead of a blockbuster clash with Fremantle next Sunday afternoon with Nic Naitanui, Mark LeCras and Jeremy McGovern all in doubt following the Eagles' 14-point loss to Hawthorn on Saturday night.
The Eagles' top two chances took a blow after the Hawks came from 18 points down in the third term to move within half-a-game of second spot on the AFL ladder.
Eagles coach Adam Simpson said there were plenty of positives to take out of the loss to the reigning premiers, but the personnel issues are significant ahead of next week's Derby.
Five talking points: West Coast v Hawthorn
The Eagles played Scott Lycett as the sole ruckman on Saturday night after Naitanui was withdrawn on Friday due to the death of his mother. The Eagles then lost Callum Sinclair on the day of the game due to knee soreness that had lingered from last week.
Simpson said he could not guarantee Naitanui would return next week.
"Hopefully we get Nic available depending on what his circumstances are and what he needs to go through to get right," Simpson said post-match.
"So we'll back away and let him deal with his family at the moment."
Naitanui has flown to Fiji for his mother's funeral and Simpson said the Eagles would support him in whatever way they could, but he urged that both the club and the public need to respect Naitanui's privacy.
The Eagles suffered another major blow when McGovern limped off in the last quarter after re-injuring his left hamstring. McGovern first suffered the injury against Collingwood in round 16 and Simpson said he now questioned whether he should have returned so soon.
"It doesn't look like a good call now, does it?" Simpson said.
"But, look, the medicos ticked him off. He was pushing for last week. There is always a risk of re-doing your hamstring.
"Hopefully it's a big cramp, but let's assume it's not. We'll back in our medicos. It didn't work out this week.
"We did have to play him in a different position, which I question myself about how we handled that. But that's footy - sometimes you get it wrong."
McGovern was forced to pinch-hit in the ruck to relieve Lycett at different stages during the night. He will now have scans to determine whether he will be available next week.
The Eagles will also sweat on the Match Review Panel's adjudication of Mark LeCras' head-high bump on James Frawley in the second quarter. Frawley had his head over the football when LeCras made strong contact, causing the Hawks defender to be subbed out for 20 minutes under the concussion rule before he was cleared and returned to play the rest of the game. LeCras has been fined twice this season by the MRP for two separate incidents.
Click here to watch Adam Simpson's full media conference
Despite the issues, Simpson was positive about his side's performance.
"We're disappointed we didn't play the full four quarters, but we'll take a lot from this and a lot of it will be positive," Simpson said.
"I thought for the most part we dug in and there's still belief there.
"Look, we're fighting for top two at the moment. You wouldn't have thought that would be the case at the start of the year so we're up and about.
"We're really excited and we're still aiming to finish as high as we can obviously, so what will be will be. But tonight we got beaten by a better side."
