Walker broke his collarbone against Geelong in round five and received the praise of coach Brett Ratten for his tireless work during his time on the sidelines.
"It is a big boost and I think it's a credit to Andrew with his rehab and what he's done to just keep up with his knowledge of football," Ratten said from Visy Park on Thursday.
"He's been at most opposition games to have a look with the coaches so I think it's been a real credit to him."
The Blues suffered three injuries in the heavy loss to Hawthorn - Chris Johnson (wrist), Simon White (knee) and Chris Yarran (thigh) - but the overall injury outlook is promising as the team embarks on the critical mid-section of the season.
"Shaun Grigg will probably come back in after three weeks out," Ratten said. "Brock McLean will be pretty much in the mix as well with Grigg, and Richard Hadley's in the same boat so we've got a few decisions to make."
Jarrad Waite and Paul Bower are also in the frame for inclusion next week, while Yarran will need to pass a fitness test if he is to take the field against the Eagles.
In further good news forward Brad Fisher has been cleared to play his first game since rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament on the eve of the season and undergoing the revolutionary LARS surgery to repair the joint.
Fisher appeared set to re-establish himself in the senior side during a promising pre-season and Ratten was delighted to welcome him back into the fold.
While Fisher will just be returning through the VFL at the moment, Ratten said once he strung together some solid games at that level he will be in the mix for the senior side.
"I think it's just a real emotional and energy boost for the group to think a player has worked extremely hard, taken the chance with a different type of procedure and then come back into the system when we're not even halfway [through the season] yet," he said.
"The way he's trained; it's been amazing. He's really been running over the top of the ground, his leg power and his vertical leap is better than it was before the injury, so what he's done has been amazing."
Ratten bemoaned a lack of hunger and intensity shown by his players during last week's loss, which meant Carlton is still yet to string three wins together this season and he challenged them to improve markedly in this area against the Eagles.
The coach is wary of West Coast despite a lowly ladder position, citing a forward line containing Mark LeCras, Josh Kennedy and Ben McKinley and the ruck tandem of Dean Cox and Nic Naitanui as key dangers.
"The big thing is that they get the ball inside their forward 50 on 52 occasions [on average] and they sit in the top eight for doing that, so our defenders are going to have to defend [well]," he said.
"They'll be put under enormous pressure and with the quality of players that they have in there they will get their opportunities to score."
