West Coast coach John Worsfold is confident Matt Priddis will be fit for the AFL season opener against Brisbane on March 27 despite the midfielder still battling an ongoing knee injury.

Priddis, who has struggled to overcome bone bruising of the knee, has missed the Eagles’ past two practice matches on the advice of the club’s medical staff.

Worsfold said Priddis could have played in Saturday’s 39-point practice match win over Carlton in Perth but the 24-year-old was held back another week as a precaution.

The Eagles take on Melbourne at Casey Fields on Saturday but Worsfold said Priddis was still no certainty to play despite the fortnight’s rest.

“I’m not sure yet,” Worsfold said.

“His knee’s a bit sore but he was ready to play last week (against Port Adelaide) and we decided to rest him and then the physio said ideally you’d rest him longer and his knee would get better.

“We made the early call to give him the two weeks off.

“So we’ve given him that good rest and we’ll see how he’s pulled up from that.

“We might play him next week depending on how he’s feeling.”

Hard-nut utility Beau Waters continued his impressive comeback from injury with a starring effort against the Blues.

But Worsfold hinted Waters, who didn’t play at all last season due to a career-threatening elbow injury, was still only touch and go for round one berth in the senior side.

“He’ll be in line for selection if we think he’s ready,” Worsfold said.

“With what he’s showing and if he shows more improvement we’ll be keen to have him in the team.

“But that might not be immediately.

“The key thing is he’s body’s holding up so he’s getting games under his belt.

“And he shows glimpses of his real good stuff. Some of the marks he takes under pressure, keeping his eye on the ball, and his forward line pressure as well, his hardness (is great).

“You can see it, it’s still there, he hasn’t changed and he’s going to develop into a very good player again.”

Waters showed he had lost none of his physical toughness, throwing his body at the contest time and again to provide the Eagles with great presence in the clinches.

“He’s very sore and with a big smile on his face. He likes to know he’s back playing footy,” Worsfold said.

Worsfold confirmed skipper Darren Glass would be rested against the Demons, with Chris Masten, Adam Selwood, Nic Naitanui, Waters and Quinten Lynch others in line to get the week off.

Mark LeCras, Josh Kennedy, Daniel Kerr and Dean Cox are all in line to return after missing the win over Carlton.

© AAP 2012

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