Waters, who is still 11 weeks away from playing after injuring his right elbow against Port Adelaide in round two, will be joined on the sidelines by young key defender Mitch Brown.
The Eagles confirmed on Monday that Brown, 22, will miss eight to ten weeks with a thumb injury, suffered during the side's seven-point loss to Hawthorn at Aurora Stadium on Saturday.
Waters, who launched the Cancer Council's 2011 Me No Hair campaign on Monday, said he knew how to approach his recovery and looked forward to playing again this season.
"I know the mind frame I need to be in to get back. I know that I need to be positive and I know the things I can do around the club to keep helping the other boys," Waters said from Patersons Stadium.
"It (the elbow) feels really good and the surgeon's very confident. It's not too dissimilar to the earliest one I did last time [but] the recovery time is going to be sometime during the year."
Waters' last elbow injury, suffered when playing for Claremont in 2008, required three operations and sidelined him for the majority of the 2008 and 2009 seasons.
However, he said this injury, while also a dislocation of the joint, was less severe, with only one of the ligaments damaged.
The 25-year-old, who was elevated to vice-captain for this season, said he had not considered the injury to be career threatening at any stage.
"As soon as you start thinking like that you're doomed," he said. "I knew there was something not quite right and just tried to be very positive about it.
"I try not to spend too much time looking in the rear view mirror at the moment."
Waters said he was focused on remaining a good leader around the club while he was sidelined, with his rehabilitation to involve running, riding and a large volume of tricep-strengthening work.
Watching from the sidelines over the last two weeks, Waters said he had been impressed both with the clubs newest recruits, Jack Darling and Andrew Gaff, and senior player Dean Cox, Andrew Embley and captain Darren Glass.
"It's been very much a team effort for the first four weeks," Waters said.
"We're not happy we've lost the last two games but we're definitely more impressed with our pressure and the things we're doing defensively.
"I think the rewards are coming because everybody's got a belief we're moving forward and we're going to be a real powerhouse in the competition.
"It's a credit to the group and I hope in the next few weeks we keep building on that."
Nathan Schmook covers West Coast news for afl.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_NSchmook
