The West Coast Eagles are preparing to unleash star ruckman Dean Cox for the first time since last July in Saturday's Round 2 NAB Cup clash with Port Adelaide at Subiaco.
Speaking on Wednesday morning, coach John Worsfold said Cox was ready to play, having recovered from a serious groin problem last year and a subsequent abdominal injury just before Christmas that slightly derailed his pre-season preparation.
Twenty-eight-year-old Cox initially suffered the groin injury in Round 10 last year and only played one more match after that, the four-time All-Australian ruckman forced onto a specialised recovering program to avoid ostetis pubis.
But having overcome his injury complaints, Worsfold believes Saturday's game is the perfect opportunity for Cox to return, with the veteran big man able to assist youngster Nic Naitanui against an experienced Power ruck division, led by Dean Brogan.
"Coxy's ready to go," declared Worsfold.
"It's exciting for him, he's really keen to get back into it. He's feeling really good, so it's that time of year for him, ready to go."
"Possibly as a substitute, or possibly, he plays the four quarters but with limited ground time."
Worsfold said it was unlikely Beau Waters would play in this encounter after almost two seasons away from the game with a serious elbow injury.
He said while Waters was almost ready to go, risking him on a day where temperatures are expected to top 40 degrees may not be advisable.
The coach also said Andrew Embley and Matt Priddis may be rested while the match committee was yet to make a decision on Quentin Lynch's availability as his partner is due to give birth sometime over the next week.
With a young line-up expected to play against the Power, Worsfold said he'd encourage his side to take risks, saying the coaching staff would learn more about a player's progress from such a an exercise than from them playing safely and kicking backwards to free team-mates.
But he said the club still had concerns regarding the heat and would be seeking clarification from the AFL regarding the use of substitutes in accordance with the league's heat policies.
"Longer breaks are probably the obvious thing (solution) to start with," Worsfold said.
"I think that's obviously fairly easy to manufacture - more ads for the broadcaster - but in terms of the actual numbers (on the bench), I'm not exactly sure where it sits with the substitutes where we've already got that extra two."
"But we'll take that all into account with the AFL over the next couple of days."