But ankle won’t stop West Coast star taking on Suns
Star midfielder Tim Kelly during a West Coast training session in Perth
STAR midfielder Tim Kelly is set to line up for West Coast in next Saturday’s clash against Gold Coast, despite sending a scare through the Eagles’ camp when he injured his left ankle in Friday night’s match simulation.
It is understood Kelly only suffered a minor tweak after he was tackled in the final quarter of the scratch match. The 25-year-old instantly took off his boot and spent minutes on the ground before trainers helped him to the sidelines.
Kelly was walking once the session had finished and his partner Caitlin Miller shared a video of him doing a moonwalk later that night, with the caption of “Tim’s fine for everyone messaging me”, almost ensuring he will be on the flight to Queensland tomorrow.
The star recruit spent much of the night showing why Eagles’ fans are excited about the South Fremantleproduct pulling on the guernsey in 2020.
His speed and skills in traffic were a highlight in a training session coach Adam Simpson described as “important”, their last in WA before heading to the Gold Coast hub.
Josh Kennedy booted six first-half goals, while defender Jeremy McGovern played all four quarters after missing training earlier in the week due to illness.
Liam Ryan took an incredible mark, kicked goals and was impressive as he showed some special football nous up forward to set up teammates for scoring opportunities.
The biggest decision to be made by West Coast is whether to play two traditional ruckmen in the shortened games, with Simpson indicating the Eagles were undecided.
Round 1 incumbent Tom Hickey began the match simulation opposed to Nic Naitanui and while he took a number of strong contested marks across the ground, young utility Oscar Allen is the favourite to take his place after starting alongside Naitanui in the team of “probables” in the past few weeks.
Allen, 21, missed Round 1 due to an ankle injury, but has used the time away from the game to catch up to his teammates after knee and hernia troubles limited his pre-season.