West Coast coach Adam Simpson says Jack Darling will miss a month but young guns are set for return

West Coast coach Adam Simpson says early indications are key forward Jack Darling will miss around a month with a broken arm while captain Luke Shuey and fellow senior players Jeremy McGovern and Elliot Yeo were still “a few weeks away” from returning.

But young guns Noah Long (hamstring), Campbell Chesser (knee) and Elijah Hewett (ankle) will put their hand up for AFL duties in Sunday’s clash against Hawthorn in Tasmania, dubbed the Harley Reid Cup because of the likely No.1 pick outcome for the loser.

The bottom-placed Hawks are dealing with issues of their own with coach Sam Mitchell struck down with COVID.

Just 0.5 per cent separate the two cellar dwellars, who have one win apiece this season and are battling for the wooden spoon and prized Bendigo Pioneers gun Reid’s services.

“It’s probably a 3-5 week injury is what we’re hearing, a bit like Josh Rotham early in the year,” Simpson told 7NEWS Perth.

“Unfortunately for Jack there’s a little fracture there but it won’t be a massive turnaround.

“Those guys (Shuey, McGovern and Yeo) won’t be back in the short-term, they’re still a few weeks away, but what we have got coming back is some of our younger talent.

“Chesser played (WAFL) at the weekend, Elijah Hewett is back this week, Long is available, so those types of players we’ll be looking at in the short term and the older guys, there’s probably nine of them, they’re a few weeks away.”

The news was also promising for speedster Jamaine Jones would could remarkably make the trip to the Apple Isle after suffering a broken nose against the Suns.

Jones hit the track at Mineral Resources Park on Monday afternoon, running laps alongside a couple of younger teammates in a promising sign for his availability.

“I think he’s tracking OK, we’re waiting on one more scan but I think at this stage he’ll be fine,” Simpson said.

Simpson confirmed the Eagles would give defender Liam Duggan another week of captaincy after his sparkling performance on Friday night.

Duggan was easily the team’s best player in a disappointing loss, amassing a game-high 32 disposals, 662 metres gained, eight rebound 50s and seven intercept possessions.

He was the only Eagle to poll on the coaches’ votes, getting one.

“He went exactly how I thought, he took it in his stride and played really well,” Simpson said.

“He’ll carry it again for another week and we’ll see what happens after that, depending on when Luke (regular captain Luke Shuey) comes back (from injury) but we were really happy with his performance.”