Nat Fyfe will make his highly anticipated return to football via the WAFL for Peel on Saturday against Subiaco, according to Senior Coach Justin Longmuir.
The game will be played at Leederville Oval with bouncedown at 2.10pm.
Speaking on 7NEWS, Longmuir said it was best to give Fyfe a week to build in the WAFL instead of taking any risk with the two-time Brownlow Medallist.
“We are going to look to return him through the WAFL. We think that’s probably the best progression for him, from training to building up into AFL footy, so he will return with Peel this week,” Longmuir told 7NEWS.
“We will play him for about 90 minutes which is a good progression for him. I probably won’t give too much away about what positions he will play, but he will play a role that will allow him to adapt to the AFL.
“I think it’s really important for him to go back and get some confidence, not only in his body, but confidence in his game.
“I think it’s a good stepping stone back to the AFL and I have said all along we want to make sure we are building him in the right way to be able to have a real impact on the AFL in the second half of the season. We think that this does that best.”
Longmuir said Fyfe had a significant say in the decision to return with a game for Peel.
“It was his idea, to be honest, he knows his body better than anyone and he knows his confidence,” Longmuir said.
“He thinks this is the right step for him to have a big crack at the second half of the year, so we just listened to him.”
Longmuir said it was likely Fyfe would return to AFL football the week after against Hawthorn, but it would depend on how he fares and pulls up after this Saturday.
“We haven’t made a call on that but (returning to Fremantle next week) would probably be the best progression,” Longmuir said.
“If he feels really confident and he feels like he has adapted really well and taken the hits and his fitness is at a good level, then we will be guided by him next week.”
Longmuir said versatile midfielder James Aish may go to former Freo Docker Lachie Neale after being effective in tagging Clayton Oliver in Fremantle’s win against Melbourne in round 11.
“We will definitely consider it after the job he did on Oliver on the weekend,” Longmuir said.
“It’s something we will look at and I think Lachie has been in some really good form and he is really instrumental to the way they play so we will consider that one.”
The Peel v Subiaco match will be streamed live on the AFL app, and broadcast live into Perth on 7Mate.
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