There appears no end in sight to West Coast’s ridiculously long AFL injury list – and coach John Worsfold wants to find out why.
The Eagles had yet another key player bound for the sidelines to compound their 22-point loss to the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium.
Midfielder Chris Masten sprained his ankle, was on crutches post-match, and joins a star-studded list of missing Eagles.
Ruckman Nic Naitanui, defenders Darren Glass, Shannon Hurn and Beau Waters, midfield stars Daniel Kerr, Luke Shuey and Matt Rosa and forward Mark Le Cras are also injured.
Hurn and Waters are done for the season.
Only Glass appears certain to return for Saturday’s home clash with Gold Coast.
“What we do need to work out is why we’re sustaining all these injuries and is there anything we can do about it,” Worsfold said.
“We’ve had too many this year. We haven’t had our best team on the field anywhere near enough to say that you can measure how you’re going.”
Masten went down in the second quarter and was substituted at halftime, leaving the Eagles’ midfield heavily undermanned.
The Eagles are now 7-10 – three wins out of the top eight and unlikely to play in finals.