West Coast will rest Daniel Kerr for the opening round of the AFL’s NAB Cup competition in order to give the gun midfielder maximum time to build up his fitness.

Kerr, who managed 16 games last season after recovering from a serious hamstring injury, will join fellow stars Nic Naitanui (pectoral/shoulder), Beau Waters (elbow), Andrew Embley (shoulder), Mitch Brown (knee) and Matt Rosa (knee) on the sidelines for Sunday’s games against Fremantle and Essendon in Perth.

“Kerr’s right to play but it’s more about our mapping out his program to get him ready for the season,” Eagles coach John Worsfold said on Tuesday.

“Nic will probably play the next NAB Cup game or the third one.

“Embley I’m not sure about. The way he’s tracking along he’ll be right in a couple of weeks.

“We’ll weigh that up as we go.

“Beau should be right for our next NAB Cup game. If not that one the third one.

“Brown’s a bit off still. He’s still the later NAB Cup games before he’ll be ready, but he’s back training.”