Jack Hutchinson in doubt for West Coast Eagles’ season opener after surgery, good news for Malakai Champion

Jack Hutchinson is likely to miss all of West Coast’s practice matches and faces a race against time to be fit for the start of the season proper after suffering an ankle setback. It comes as forward Malakai Champion resumed match practice at the Eagles’ final pre-Christmas tune-up, unhindered by a low-grade medial ligament strain. West Coast revealed on Monday that Hutchinson will miss an “extended” period of time on the sidelines after requiring ankle surgery. “Unfortunately, we found a stress fracture in Jack’s ankle,” high performance manager Phil Merriman revealed on the club’s website. “It’s in an area that has a poor healing capacity, so we sent him in for a procedure. It’s going to be a little bit longer for him, we will probably have him running around the 10-week mark and then have him progress from there.” That timeframe would leave the third-year wingman facing an uphill battle to be considered for Round 1. The Eagles’ March 15 season opener is less than 13 weeks away, with their final pre-season match a fortnight before then. Hutchinson has played 23 of a possible 35 games since joining the Eagles through last year’s mid-season draft. He averaged 13 disposals in 16 matches this year. Champion, 19, looked to have suffered a serious knee injury less than a week ago when he fell to the turf clutching at his leg from an innocuous handball drill. But the club confirmed on Monday scans have cleared him of serious injury and the Category B rookie will spend minimal time in recovery. “Malakai has a low-grade MCL injury. It should be a fairly quick turnaround for him and we expect to see him back in the program full-time post-Christmas.” Ruck Bailey Williams will likely join the main group when they return to training after the Christmas break on January 12, as he comes off a groin injury. “We’ve had a good turnaround in the last week where he has become pain-free,” Merriman said. “The plan will be to get him running in the break and back into the rehab group post-Christmas, and then to returning to full training in late January.” Experienced defender-midfielder Liam Baker was back running laps on Monday after a minor hamstring niggle. Second-year Eagle Bo Allan has been restricted to running laps while wearing an forearm guard to protect a wrist injury. Ruck Harry Barnett is working through a PCL recovery. “Bo has a little crack in his wrist,” Merriman said. “It will be a quick recovery, but he can do all the running that we want him to do, and he can keep kicking, we just need to protect that wrist for about four weeks. Ruckman Harry Barnett is “progressing well” following a PCL injury, with the plan to return to drills post-Christmas and full training in late January. Sam Allen, taken by the Eagles with pick 29 in last month’s national draft, is in the early stages of rehabilitation from an ACL and is expected to resume running in January. “Sam came to us six months post-op with an ACL injury,” Merriman said. “We’ve just had to nurse him through this early part to make sure he’s got the right strength around his knee to progress him into change of direction and those kinds of things. “He’s been straight-line running, and we will get him into aggressive change of direction when he gets back from the break.”