Fremantle captain Nat Fyfe is in no danger of missing round 1 despite being ruled out of the Dockers’ Community Series clash with injury-ravaged West Coast.
Coach Justin Longmuir opted not to risk the dual Brownlow medallist, who underwent two shoulder surgeries last year, but welcomes back fellow stars David Mundy, Michael Walters, Sean Darcy and Luke Ryan.
Fremantle’s improving health is in stark contrast to the Eagles, who are down to as few as 26 players as they deal with an injury crisis exacerbated by Jack Darling’s vaccine reluctance.
Fyfe is instead likely to take part in an intraclub game next week as the Dockers look at “creative” ways to bring him up to speed for the season opener against Gold Coast on March 20.
“We gave strong consideration to playing ‘Fyfey’ for a half, but there’s just probably a couple of markers that he hasn’t quite reached with his strength in that shoulder,” Longmuir said.
“We expect him to make some really good progress on that, like he has, over the next couple of weeks and it doesn’t change our thoughts with him for round 1 but he’s going to miss this week.”
Fyfe has been in full training for a fortnight and Longmuir was confident his “elite” fitness would offset him not playing a competitive match against opposition this pre-season.
Darcy Tucker (hamstring) is another player who will rely on that intraclub hitout to push his round 1 claims, but there are no such worries for Mundy (ankle) and Walters (hamstring).
The two All-Australians will both play full games against West Coast, with Longmuir saying they delayed Walters’ return by a week as a precaution.
“(Mundy)’s played a fair bit of match sim, so we expect him to come up pretty quick,” Longmuir said.
“He’s ready for it. He did all the work last week. He had a sore neck, but he was still able to run and did a couple of heavy footy sessions. He’s right to go but we need to get a full game into him.”
Longmuir had no concerns about how the two veterans would reintegrate into a team that demolished the Eaglexjmtzyws by 97 points in last week’s practice match.
“I think a lot has been made about our speed, but you don’t get to access that speed without defending really well, first and foremost, and winning contests and getting your contest method right,” he said.
“There’s always a balance and I’ve got no issues with Dave and ‘Sonny’ and those guys coming into our mix, because they’re very, very good around the contest.
“They’re only going to help us, so we need to get a lot of things right before the speed comes into play.”
Darcy’s inclusion means Lloyd Meek will miss senior selection, leaving Rory Lobb to serve as the back-up ruckman.
“I thought Rory Lobb competed really well in the ruck as a second ruckman last week and he competed really well as a forward as well,” Longmuir said.
“He will take the second ruck (spot), which is probably the way we like to do it in-season, given that Sean does 80 per cent of the ruck when he’s there.”
Top-10 draftee Jye Amiss will play half a game for Peel Thunder after an interrupted pre-season.
