NIC NAITANUI is closing in on his return, but deciding whether to resurrect West Coast's two-ruck system is coach Adam Simpson's more pressing concern with Tom Hickey set to be available against former club St Kilda this Saturday night.

Camera crews shot Wednesday's closed session and all eyes were on Naitanui as he rejoined main training for the first time since his second knee reconstruction. 

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But ruck recruit Hickey also got through full training after missing the reigning premiers' unconvincing win over Gold Coast with a slight hamstring problem.

Simpson is faced with the decision whether to again drop Nathan Vardy, who he staunchly defended from criticism following the Suns clash, with Hickey all but assured of selection following a standout effort as the sole ruck on a dark day in Geelong before his setback.

"We've traditionally played the two rucks, knowing that one of those rucks needs to be a forward at stages," Simpson said.

"The last couple of weeks we've tried a different look with Vardy and Hickey. When you look at the results, we look at more the clearances and how they all went rather than the individual ruck stats that they provide, both of those guys have held up their own.

"Oscar Allen has been second rucking. A young 20-year-old who has never rucked before – we're trying to get him through the season.

"Is that the best thing for him? They're the things we'll discuss."

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Simpson doesn't expect Naitanui to be available until after the round 13 bye, setting up a potential comeback in a Thursday night blockbuster against Essendon at Optus Stadium.

"He looked good (today). Obviously he was in the opposition side when we do a little match sim, so he's disrupting a lot already, which is great for us," Simpson said.  

"He's on track for hopefully just after the bye. 

"He looks like the normal Nic at the moment. Early days. I'm sure he'll build his confidence in the next month or so.

"It doesn't feel a lot different because he's been on the track for so long. He's probably been training with us on and off for six weeks. This is just the next progression."

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The Eagles haven't won centre clearances since the round three Grand Final rematch against Collingwood, and Naitanui could fire up an inconsistent engine room.

"I'm sure the boys are looking forward to when he comes back, but there's still a good seven or eight games before that happens," Simpson said.  

"We need to get going in other areas first."

There are areas of concern all over the park, including ranking dead last for inside 50s, and getting hands to the footy remains West Coast's priority. 

"We've just got to win the ball and we can coach and work our way around the rest of the game," Simpson said.  

"We won the contested possessions (against Gold Coast), I think we were plus 30-odd in tackles, tackle efficiency was as high as it's been for a couple of years.  

"Getting that intent right is really important. We're not going to go too far unless we do that consistently.  

"That's still our No.1 focus."

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