West Coast Eagles coach John Worsfold has denied either Dean Cox or Nic Naitanui are carrying injuries heading into Round 1, despite elevating another ruckman off the rookie list.
Speaking after the Eagles' season launch on Tuesday morning, Worsfold said Will Sullivan's promotion to the senior list could be attributed to the 20-year-old's good form in recent NAB Challenge Cup wins over Carlton and Melbourne.
But, having seen Cox miss a good chunk of season 2009 with a serious groin injury, Worsfold said 202cm Sullivan was definitely a handy back-up.
"Will's on the senior list now for the whole year," said Worsfold.
"Against Carlton and the small amount of ground time he got against Melbourne on the weekend, he showed that he can hold up and ruck in the AFL now."
"We wouldn't have elevated him if he wasn't ready to play and the other side of it is that he just gives us some insurance that if at any stage throughout the year we have an injury to one or both of our ruckmen, we've got a true ruckman there."
Having gone through an intensive rehabilitation program to overcome the groin injury last year, former All Australian ruckman Cox faced a setback just before Christmas when he suffered a slight abdominal strain.
But when asked specifically whether Sullivan's elevation meant there was any doubt hanging over Cox or Naitanui playing in the Round 1 clash with Brisbane, Worsfold simply said: "No there's not."
"Round 1 (wasn't) in mind. This decision was made for the season."
"We see that with only two recognised ruckmen on our senior list, we felt once Will showed and proved that he was ready to step up, that he could take that spot on the list."
Having no one on their veteran list, the Eagles are entitled to elevate two rookies, the club having sent Sullivan's paperwork to the AFL ahead of Tuesday's 2pm (AEST) deadline.
Quentin Lynch has previously been used as a pinch hitting ruckman over the last two seasons, but Lynch is facing some stiff competition from a fit again Ash Hansen for the vacant big forward role as Josh Kennedy is virtually assured of selection at centre half-forward.
"We're in the position you want to be in, in that Ash Hansen has had a very good pre-season," Worsfold said.
"There's no question about his form and fitness and Quentin's the same, so it's a matter of the way the match committee want to go for Round 1, (but) those two guys have put their hand up."
"That's a great position to be in and if either one of those guys went down with injury, we know we've got one equally as good to step in."