West Coast Eagles running machine Chris Masten might only miss one game despite suffering a low-grade hamstring strain during Sunday’s win over Hawthorn.
View the full St John of God Health Care Injury Update here
Masten incurred the injury just minutes after the first bounce but toiled manfully to amass 11 disposals, four marks and kick an inspiring left-foot goal from the boundary at a crucial stage in the third quarter at Etihad Stadium.
General manager of football Craig Vozzo hoped Masten would be available for selection following the mid-season bye.
“Chris Masten, it was a really brave effort to battle it out for the team. He played the whole game on compromised minutes, but he really played his role in the win,” Vozzo said.
“Unfortunately he’s had a low-grade hamstring strain and he’ll take a couple of weeks to recover from that and hopefully be back for AFL 13 after our bye.”
Vozzo said a number of exciting Eagles should be ready to go following the break, including Liam Ryan (ankle), Eric Mackenzie (toes) and Hamish Brayshaw (knee).
Will Schofield is also a chance to take the field following the bye after injuring his hamstring while representing East Perth last weekend.
“Will is passing all the markers that we need for the rehab of a hamstring,” Vozzo said.
“We expect that he’ll build over the break … to be available for selection, hopefully, straight after in AFL 13.”
The news is not so flash for crafty half-forward Malcolm Karpany, who underwent surgery today for a knee injury that has kept him on the sidelines for the past three weeks.
West Coast’s medical team attempted to manage Karpany through the ailment but conceded surgery was the best option for the 22-year-old.
“We’ve been trying to manage it conservatively over the last three or four weeks with that ITB friction problem, but that hasn’t worked so we had no choice but to have a small procedure. That’ll set him back probably six to eight weeks,” Vozzo said.
Luke Shuey (hamstring) and Tony Olango (concussion) will face fitness tests later this week, while Daniel Venables (ankle) is building towards a return in roughly four weeks’ time.
