Forgotten West Coast Eagles youngster Elijah Hewett set for day one of pre-season after injury-hit 2024

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Forgotten West Coast Eagles youngster Elijah Hewett set for day one of pre-season after injury-hit 2024

Luckless West Coast midfielder Elijah Hewett is set for day one of pre-season after his 2024 season was ruined by a serious feet injury.

Hewett, 20, did not play at all this year after he had surgery on a sesamoiditis injury in March, before being ruled out just before his expected return in July with a minor bone stress in his foot.

It was a ***** for the developing Eagles, with Hewett one of the bright sparks of a dismal 2023 season when he played 14 promising games having been drafted with pick No.14 in 2022.

Hewett battled sesamoiditis — a pre-existing injury he had before he was drafted — for much of the pre-season and even went to Melbourne to consult a specialist physiotherapist at the *********** Ballet before the Eagles’ bit the bullet and put him in for surgery.

The Swan Districts product is one of several West Coast players who have been working with strength and conditioning coach Corey Green out of the Athletic Institute in Wangara.

Hewett’s expected return is an early positive for the start of the Andrew McQualter era which officially begins at West Coast on Monday when the new coach is joined by the young Eagles at first day of pre-season on Monday.

McQualter will front he media for only the second time as the Eagles’ seventh full-time coach after being appointed as the successor for Adam Simpson in late September.

The former Richmond caretaker coach will have the next generation of West Coast on the track with No.1 draftee Harley Reid to begin his first full pre-season at Mineral Resources Park.

It could give a strong glimpse into the Eagles’ future with Reid and Hewett set to be a strong part of the rebuild under McQualter who has already indicated he wants to build a gameplan based on pace which both aren’t short of.

Reid had an incredible first 20 games in the AFL off a shortened pre-season and will return from Victoria where he spent the off-season as an ambassador for Victorian racing.

The pair of explosive midfielders will be joined by fourth-year midfielder Campbell Chesser who is out of contract and looking for a big season.

Chesser, 21, played a career-best 18 games last season but was subbed out three time and averaged only 11 disposals with a season-best of 16 against Greater Western Sydney in round three.

Camera IconElijah Hewett at training. Credit: Ian Munro/The West ***********

A first-round draftee in 2021, injury and form has restricted the midfielder in his first three seasons but will want to be a crucial part of the midfield under McQualter.

Midfielder Coby Burgiel is set to be a train-on at the Eagles after he was delisted having not played an AFL game in two seasons because of persistent hamstring injuries.

Sources told The West *********** that Burgiel — who was drafted with pick 29 in 2022 — is a strong chance to be redrafted either as a rookie or through the pre-season supplemental selection *******.

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