Matt Taberner is set to make his return to football at Peel on Saturday, and senior coach Ross Lyon said it was a tough decision to leave the key forward out of the Fremantle lineup.
Taberner hasn’t played since injuring his foot in round five and Lyon said it was best to see him return via the WAFL.
Lyon said Taberner was likely to play approximately 80 minutes for Peel against West Perth at Joondalup Arena.
“We thought about him for a number of reasons so it’s nice that there are four more (games to come) after this one,” Lyon said.
“We’d look him if he can hit form and run well.”
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Lyon highlighted the strength of Hawthorn’s forward line and said Fremantle could only benefit from the Taberner’s return in the coming weeks.
“We’re crying out for a big strong man (up front),” Lyon said.
“I stayed over and watched Hawthorn last week. If you look at their front half, it was (Jarryd) Roughead, (Jack) Gunston, (Ryan) Schoenmakers, (Paul) Puopolo, (Luke) Breust with (Brendan) Whitecross and Issac Smith floating through there.
“It’s a premiership front half, a lot of quality.
“We’re a bit thinner in that area obviously, but young (Brennan) Cox is coming through and we’re playing (Scott) Jones and (Stefan) Giro, so it would be great if we could bring Taberner in as a big strong man who can give us a presence and draw the ball.”
Lyon said the key for Fremantle on Sunday at Optus Stadium will be in having some strong performances from their running midfielders.
Ed Langdon had an uncharacteristic off day against Essendon with seven disposals, while Lyon hopes Stephen Hill can return to the team after a quad injury.
“We need Ed Langdon to bounce back and Bradley Hill is starting to build some good form, so we think we’ll be right in the mix,” Lyon said.
“Our focus is to win the ball well, tackle well and try and move the ball in a manner that we can challenge them. That’s what we’re trying to do.
“If we can improve our clearance work and give our forwards some opposition, I think we can challenge.
“It would be nice if Stephen Hill gets through and he can go through the midfield and run out of half-back and compliment (Nathan) Wilson and (Luke) Ryan.”
