Fremantle’s 2022 playing list is finally all together after Karl Worner joined the playing group on Monday.
The speedy winger from the Oakleigh Chargers was selected by Fremantle in the NAB AFL Rookie Draft back in November, in addition to national draftees Jye Amiss, Neil Erasmus, Matthew Johnson and Eric Benning.
Worner remained in Victoria training with the Richmond VFL team until he was able to travel to WA last week, completing a seven-day quarantine.
He took part in his first main training session on Tuesday participating in most of the drills under the close eye of the Strength and Conditioning team.
“He came into the club first thing yesterday and I met him then. He’s an energetic mature young man who’s had one of the most indifferent arrivals at a footy club that I’ve seen,” Longmuir said.
“He’s just ready to get into it and he’ll have his first training session today and we’ll see where he’s at. We’ll give him a plan to get into the normality of AFL football.”
Longmuir said he won’t be rushing Worner into the team for Fremantle’s two practice matches against West Coast on 25 February at Optus Stadium (lock out) and 6 March at Fremantle Oval (open to the public).
He added that he expects Worner to transition well into the AFL environment due to his fitness and pace. Prior to being drafted, the 19-year-old ran a 6:07 2km time trial at the National Combine.
“We’ll just see where he’s at today. He’s a really fit young man, and he’s been doing some work with the Richmond VFL in Victoria,” Longmuir said.
“We still need to get our eyes on him and see where he’s at. We don’t want to throw him in too early as we’ll put him at risk of injury. We’ll just weigh that up.”
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