FEARS of a deepening ruck crisis at West Coast have eased slightly with Nathan Vardy escaping serious damage to his elbow.
Vardy hurt his arm in the opening quarter of Saturday night's Western Derby triumph over Fremantle, but played through the pain to finish the match.
Eagles coach Adam Simpson was concerned post-match that the injury-plagued big man might join Nic Naitanui (knee), Scott Lycett (shoulder) and Drew Petrie (hand) for a lengthy stint on the sidelines.
But Vardy, who wasn't sighted at training on Monday afternoon, is a chance to be available to face red-hot Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval this Saturday.
"We're getting a bit light on with our ruck stocks, but it was positive news (from scans)," Simpson told 6PR.
"He's not fully in the clear yet, but the worst-case scenario was going to be a 12-16 week injury.
"He's still pretty sore (but) it will be short-term."
If Vardy isn't fit for the Power clash, rookie-listed Fraser McInnes could be called up for his 10th career match to partner Jonathan Giles in the ruck.
Giles was on light duties at Monday's training session and only walked laps alongside Andrew Gaff, who overcame a sore ankle to play in the derby, and Liam Duggan (corked leg).
Debutant Kurt Mutimer (knee) didn't make an appearance, while veteran Sam Mitchell joined in kick-to-kick but didn't test out his sore ankle.
About a third of the Eagles' squad are battling injuries heading into round seven against the Power, which is the first chance for West Coast to atone on the road for a horror loss to Hawthorn at the MCG.
"(The Power are) back to their aggressive, hard-running, combative best," Simpson said.
"There's no real luck to what they're doing, it's pretty hard-fought and they've faced some really stiff opposition when they've gone down – but they've gone down swinging as well.
"We're looking forward to it, it's a good challenge for us to get to Adelaide to try and get two wins in a row."