Premiership hero Dom Sheed could return to action in the WAFL alongside fellow midfield star Elliot Yeo next week as West Coast insist they’re still playing to win despite mothballing Oscar Allen.

Eagles football manager Gavin Bell said Sheed, who had suffered a serious ankle injury in the pre-season, had enjoyed two solid weeks on the track ahead of his return.

Yeo, who has battled a string of concerns including a torn calf, a lingering concussion and then COVID, accompanied the team to Sydney for Sunday’s clash with GWS to do extra training.

“We are really hoping those guys will be up for some minutes next week,” Bell said on ABC Radio.

The decision to park Allen, who has battled a foot issue since summer, was a “risk reward” issue. Luke Edwards, who was also added to the inactive list this week, is battling osteitis pubis.

“We could have kept trying to push their rehab programs through to try and get them up for the last game or two if everything went according to plan,” Bell said.

“But the risk of things not going to plan and them missing parts of the pre-season was just too big for us.”

Allen was progressing slowly, Bell said.

“We have done a lot of scans, we have worked really hard through the process with our medical team. The best way for us to handle it is to be cautious at the moment and make sure we get him right . He is a key player for our future,” he said.

“He is starting to make some progress but it is just slow. The nature of the injury is one that does take time . We just weren’t able to hit the points of progression that we needed to hit.”

And despite the safety-first decisions, Bell said the Eagles would “definitely” be playing to win against the Giants.

“We have definitely come here with the mission to win the game. The guys have been really competitive against the top two teams in the last two weeks,” he said.

“We have been proud of what they have been able to do in small patches but it is just not enough. The industry is about winning games of footy.

“Our club doesn’t like being in the position that we are in and we don’t like being part of that either.”

He expected the Eagles to make a decision whether to participate in the mid-season rookie draft within two weeks with the shift of Allen and Edwards to the inactive list opening up two spots.

He “would assume” the Eagles would target players “in and around the midfield, maybe some talls” if they did head to the draft.