LOCKDOWN defender Will Schofield appears in strong contention to be recalled against Essendon after being held out of West Coast's reserves squad for Sunday's historic first WAFL final.

With only a four-day gap before next Thursday's cutthroat clash with the Bombers, the Eagles have kept Schofield out from the state league elimination final against West Perth.

The 30-year-old was dropped after round 21 but could return to help Jeremy McGovern and Tom Barrass handle Bombers tall forwards Shaun McKernan, Mitch Brown and Jake Stringer.

Liam Duggan, who returned from an ankle injury in the round 23 loss to Hawthorn, could make way for Schofield after West Coast applied for him to appear this Sunday at Joondalup.

The WAFL denied the special request for Duggan and tagger Mark Hutchings (hamstring), who didn't satisfy the "young emerging" or long-term injured" criteria.  

Small forward Jarrod Cameron and category B rookie Patrick Bines were approved to play.  

The Eagles are set to regain star ruckman Nic Naitanui (ankle) against the Bombers if he completes main training on Friday and clears final hurdles next week.

"If he gets through that, makes himself available, has a good week on the track and then we'll work through whatever that means for us," coach Adam Simpson said.

Naitanui's return could force out mid-sized forward Jake Waterman, unless the Eagles rolled the dice with young tall Oscar Allen as secondary ruck and left out Tom Hickey.  

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West Coast is expected to train under lights at Optus Stadium on Monday night to prepare for the Bombers, who they defeated at home by 35 points in round 14.  

Skipper Shannon Hurn, who didn't travel to Melbourne for the All Australian announcement, and defender Brad Sheppard are set to benefit from the pre-finals bye.

Hurn experienced hamstring "awareness" early against the Hawks and welcomed the weekend off, while Sheppard needed attention for sore ribs.

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"The ribs aren't too bad," Sheppard told AFL.com.au.  

"Copped a couple of hits throughout the game, but they were a bit sore from a couple of weeks prior to that.

"Just unfortunate when you've got something a little bit sore and you seem to get knocked around a bit.

"It was pretty sore on Saturday night, but thankfully it's pulled up pretty well throughout the week and handy to get the week off to get the body right and have an assault on September."