Aaron Sandilands is expected to spend at least two more weeks on the sidelines after scans revealed a calf strain on Thursday, according to Fremantle senior coach Ross Lyon.
Sandilands has missed the past three weeks and Lyon said the 211cm ruckman came up sore after Wednesday’s session.
“He trained Wednesday and then we backed him off a little bit. He came off a little bit tight,” Lyon said.
“They scanned yesterday and it’s shown he’s come out with a calf strain.”
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Lyon said there wasn’t an exact timeframe on Sandilands’ return, however he was hopeful he would play again before the end of the season.
“He’ll miss a number of weeks, I’m not sure exactly how many,” Lyon said.
“I think it might be a two or three week injury, so it’s disappointing for Aaron and it’s disappointing for us but that’s the way it goes sometimes.”
Lyon dismissed speculation that Nat Fyfe could return from a hamstring injury earlier than the currently expected three weeks.
“Fyfe was aiming for a four to five week timeframe (at the time of injury) but it’s going to be longer than that,” Lyon said.
“His best case scenario is to play the last two (games of the season).”
Fremantle will train this afternoon at Optus Stadium, with Sean Darcy, Stephen Hill, Hayden Ballantyne and Andrew Brayshaw all needing to get through training to earn selection.
The group were added to Fremantle’s extended squad on Thursday and the final team will be finalised at 3pm WST on Friday.
Lyon said he expects Darcy, who was a late withdrawal against Essendon, to play.
“Darcy trained Wednesday. We were confident last week, although it was a little bit up in the air, but we expect him to play,” Lyon said.
“We erred on the side of caution which was fine and he says he’s feeling good so he’ll need to get through today’s session.”
