West Coast general manager of football Craig Vozzo expects Luke Shuey and Sharrod Wellingham to play in the club’s final NAB Challenge hit-out against Essendon on March 13.

Vozzo told The West Australian the Eagles were taking a conservative approach with Shuey, who suffered a knock to the knee at training last week.

Further assessment cleared Shuey’s knee of any structural damage, but the key midfielder was still sore from the event, according to Vozzo.

“Luke copped a knock to the knee recently and it just hasn’t come up as well as we would have liked,” Vozzo told The West.

“Rather than give him a run this week, we’ll take a conservative path and we expect him back for NAB 3.”

West Coast is applying similar restraint with Wellingham, who aggravated a foot issue at training recently.

“Sharrod is slowly getting back to full training,” Vozzo said.

“We’re hoping he’ll take another step with that next week, but again at this time of year we didn’t think it was worth upping his loads to get him ready for the game (against Gold Coast).”

While the club is playing it safe with Shuey and Wellingham, Vozzo confirmed 2014 John Worsfold Medallist Eric Mackenzie would make his return to football against the Suns.

Mackenzie has been training well this pre-season and Vozzo said he was excited to take the field for the first time since undergoing a knee reconstruction almost exactly 12 months ago.

 “It’s wonderful to have him back in the group,” Vozzo said.

“He’s had a terrific build-up. He couldn’t be more ready to play.”

West Coast fans will also get to see star players Nic Naitanui, Shannon Hurn, Josh Kennedy, Jack Darling, Mark LeCras and Jeremy McGovern in action for the first time this year.

Vozzo said the club hoped Naitanui would play the entirety of the game, which meant either Scott Lycett or Jonathan Giles might miss the Gold Coast clash.