West Coast premiership midfielder Dom Sheed insists he is not disappointed with unvaccinated forward Jack Darling despite it being “hard” to support his stance.
The Eagles rxjmtzywemain unsure about whether Darling will get vaccinated against Covid-19 in time to play in Round 1, or at all, with injuries to Oscar Allen (foot) and Jamie Cripps (pectoral) making the situation more critical.
They experimented with key defender Tom Barrass playing in attack on Friday night but Sheed said they had not yet decided to move on without Darling, even though the clock was ticking.
“It’d be nice to have some clarity but at the moment, as a player, all we can focus on is what we can do as a team and what’s going on is a bit bigger than the players,” Sheed said.
“We’ve just got to roll with the punches and let the club deal with that.
“Jack’s, obviously, very hard to replace. I think every team in the competition would struggle to replace a Jack Darling. We’d love to have him, but, unfortunately, that’s not the case.”
Sheed pointed to Barrass, Jake Waterman and even 196cm East Perth sharpshooter Tyler Keitel, who is trying to win one of West Coast’s vacant list spots, as forward options if Darling doesn’t return.
Former Fremantle forward Hugh Dixon is another player fighting for an AFL lifeline.
Sheed said Darling’s vaccination call was a “personal decision” and he and his teammates held no grudges
“He’s working through some things at the moment and, as a playing group, we support him,” Sheed said.
“It’s between him and the club at the moment. The players support him and reach out to him where possible, but I wouldn’t say we’re disappointed. It’s his choice.
“Everybody’s got a decision whether they want to get the vaccine or not, and he’s decided not to. So, I don’t think that we can be disappointed in that.
“We support him in what he wants to do. It’s hard to support his decision, but we support him as an individual.”
Sheed said the hope was Allen would get out of his moon boot this week, which would be ahead of schedule, but Cripps was expected to miss the first month of the season.
Sam Petrevski-Seton (knee) and Greg Clark (AC joint) are the latest additions to an injury list that includes Luke Shuey (hamstring) and Liam Duggan (knee), while others have had interrupted pre-seasons.
“Just because we have maybe 30 players available; that’s not a reflection of how we’re going to be Round 1,” Sheed said.
“I think a lot of blokes are going to come back within that month, and hopefully they’re fit enough to put on the park and play but this just gives great opportunity for our younger players to step up and play a role.”
