West Coast midfielder Daniel Kerr is struggling to overcome a series of sore spots, placing him in doubt for Saturday night's match with St Kilda at Docklands.
Kerr, who underwent major surgery on his hamstring last year, battled through soreness during last week's win over Geelong and is rated just a 50-50 chance to take on the Saints.
The 28-year-old has been scintillating in his 11 appearances this season, but coach John Worsfold says the 181-match veteran is still getting his body up to speed after missing so much football last year.
"He's obviously had massive surgery to the top part of his hamstring, but he has had some issues with his glute as well as some hip pain," Worsfold said.
"I don't know whether he's going to play or not.
"I would say right now he's 50-50, but he's been 50-50 this time of the week probably for the last six.
"It means he always gets better late in the week. As the game approaches, the enthusiasm and adrenaline kicks in and he's been OK."
Forward Quinten Lynch will slot straight back into the side after serving a one-match suspension but Worsfold is yet to decide whether to hand vice-captain Beau Waters a recall.
Waters, who had surgery on his elbow after dislocating it in round two, has impressed in his two recent WAFL hit-outs but will find it hard to squeeze back into a West Coast defence which has been rock-solid over the past month.
"When everything is right, he'll be in again," Worsfold said.
The fifth-placed Eagles have won five games on the trot to be one of the form teams of the competition.
But Worsfold has been concerned by his team's slow starts to second halves, with West Coast almost blowing match-winning leads in recent weeks against Carlton and Geelong.
"We're down a fair bit [early in our third quarters]," he said.
"It's not as though it's been a downward trend from [half-time] because our last quarters are still good.
"We've done a few different things (at half-time) in the last few weeks and they haven't worked.
"It's a mystery."
St Kilda has won five of its past seven matches to move back to within striking distance of the top eight, and Worsfold acknowledges his team will have its hands full containing the Saints' stars.
"They're back playing the St Kilda brand of football we know they're good at, really making it tough for the opposition teams to score," he said.
"So that bit of confidence is back."
- AAP
Tags: sport, australian-football-league, perth-6000 First posted July 13, 2011 16:45:34
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