Eagles trio pushing to return for JK’s farewell game

West Coast speedster Jack Petruccelle is in a race against time to play again this season after scans revealed a low-grade hamstring strain.

Petruccelle booted three second-half goals in Sunday’s narrow loss to Gold Coast at Metricon Stadium but didn’t finish the match after feeling right hamstring tightness.

The Eagles will take a cautious approach with the 23-year-old who has had a history of soft-tissue injuries, with the final-round clash against Geelong at GMBHA Stadium his likely comeback if he’s seen at all again this year.

The injury result was better for mid-season draftee Jai Culley who was subbed out of the same game with a hamstring issue, with early signs that he’s avoided serious damage.

Culley is sidelined for two weeks either way after copping a suspension for an errant elbow on young Sun Noah Anderson.

“Given he’s had a couple of these in the year we’re going to take a no-risk approach and he’ll be two-to-three weeks,” West Coast’s head of health Mark Finucane told the club website.

“Jai was assessed by the doctor and decision made to sub out of the game.

“Jai’s pulled up quite well and we’ll just monitor his response over the week, but the early signs are we might have missed an injury there.”

The Eagles could welcome back a trio of defenders for Josh Kennedy’s farewell game against Adelaide at Optus Stadium on Sunday with Rhett Bazzo (ankle), Josh Rotham (ankle) and Alex Witherden (hamstring) all tracking well.

“Rhett had a kick to the inside of his ankle that puffed up in the game against St Kilda and it took most of last week for that to calm down,” Finucane said.

“He did some modified training over the weekend and he’s responded well, so he’s just got to get through this week to be available for the weekend.

“Josh had an opponent land across his ankle and he had a sprain of his medial ligaments.

“That has settled quite well but it’s taken most of last week. He did some training today and he just needs to show his fitness at main training later in the week to be available.

“Alex got through the game against St Kilda and then a couple of days later when all the other soreness after the game had settled he was still aware of his hamstring.

“It wasn’t one of those ones that he had a grab or an incident. There was a very low-grade strain on scan that’s settled quite well, and he’s shown good function today.

“He’s just got to get through training for the rest of the week to be available for the weekend.”

Dashing defender Jamaine Jones was sporting a massive compression bandage on his upper left leg and premiership forward Liam Ryan looked really sore during Tuesday’s session at Mineral Resources Park but neither were mentioned on the club’s latest injury update.

Dual John Worsfold medallist Elliot Yeo ran laps on his own with his season in doubt due to a calf injury, while young gun Oscar Allen (foot), who’s currently on the inactive list, did some light kicking drills briefly before heading inside.