Masten suffered a posterior cruciate ligament injury late last year and feared he had repeated the injury when his leg was caught under Fremantle’s Adam McPhee in Sunday’s western derby.
The young onballer had made a flying start for West Coast, playing his best football for the season and winning 14 possessions to half time, but he was taken the rooms on a stretcher.
He said the results of scans, which cleared him of major damage, were good news, relatively speaking.
“The prognosis is about as good as it could be,” Masten said on westcoasteagles.com.au.
“I have damaged the lateral ligament, which means I will be out for only five to six weeks.
“It felt very similar to the posterior cruciate ligament injury I suffered late last season so I knew it was going to mean a spell on the sidelines.
“When I hobbled off the ground to the bench I was shattered, but I didn’t want to show the boys how I was feeling. I had to stay positive and encourage them because they were a man down with more than a half to play.”
With Masten having a big influence in the midfield West Coast built a 23-point lead, but Fremantle persevered and ran away with the 31st cross-town clash by 38 points.
“The worst thing was that I was playing my best game of the season and wanted so badly to be able to keep going and play my part in winning our first derby for a while,” Masten said. “Unfortunately that wasn’t to be.”
The midfielder has his knee in a brace and won’t be able to run for three to four weeks.
