WEST Coast coach John Worsfold has not ruled out using star forward Mark LeCras in midfield bursts during Thursday night's clash with Melbourne at Patersons Stadium, as the forward makes a surprise return from a serious groin injury.
 
LeCras has recovered quickly from his round-one injury, missing just three matches after an initial forecast of six to 10 weeks on the sidelines.
 
The All Australian forward was used in the midfield for periods against North Melbourne before going down, and with the forward line functioning well in his absence, Worsfold said LeCras was capable of playing both roles on Thursday night.
 
"He played in the midfield in some of the practice games prior to that as well, so it's a handy dilemma for us to have as we progress though this season," Worsfold said from Patersons Stadium on Wednesday.
 
"He'll work hard as a forward or in the midfield, that won't really matter. It's going to be more about managing his ground time.
 
"He might come off more often, but still be able to play both roles."
 
LeCras had a perfect run in rehabilitation, pulling up well after the injury, jogging within a week and suffering no setbacks.
 
Club medical staff told Worsfold 10 days ago not to rule the 24-year-old out of the Melbourne match as he ticked all the running and kicking boxes in his rehab program.
 
"The last one he had to tick was to be able to do a full training session, tackling with the intensity of match practice type stuff, and he did that late last week and on the weekend," Worsfold said. 
 
"He was always ahead of schedule. Six weeks we thought would probably be the quickest initially, but seeing what he did within a week, he was already a week ahead of that and he had no setbacks."
 
West Coast has also selected half-back Ash Smith, who will play his first game for the season, and stopper Pat McGinnity, who shapes as a potential match-up for creative Melbourne midfielder Aaron Davey. 
 
Key defenders Will Schofield (omitted) and Mitch Brown (thumb) will miss, but Worsfold said he was confident his backline could handle the Demons forwards, including livewire Liam Jurrah.   
 
"His effectiveness in the game will be the result of a number of things - not just his direct match-up, but how much we can put pressure on Melbourne," Worsfold said of Jurrah, who is Melbourne's leading goalkicker this season with 12 majors. 
 
"We've got to back our defenders in to do the job (and) back our pressure up the field to give him more limited opportunities.
 
"(Eric) Mackenzie has got the size, speed and endurance to be able to do that sort of job. We've got 'Glassy' there too.
 
"We're still weighing that (match-up) up."
 
West Coast, like Melbourne, will enter Thursday's match after a bye, having enjoyed a 12-day break since it's narrow loss to Hawthorn at Aurora Stadium.
 
The side will then have a 10-day break ahead of its clash with Essendon at Etihad Stadium.
 
"There's a couple of guys that were fairly sore after Hawthorn that would have got no training if it was a week's break," Worsfold said. 
 
"Being able to give them a light six or seven days and then still have four days to prepare has been good. There's always guys that are looking forward to having the week off.
 
"The two big breaks between Hawthorn, Melbourne and next week's game just mean that we've been able to get an extra session in, which we're always pleased to do."
 
Nathan Schmook covers West Coast news for afl.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_NSchmook