Key defender Alex Pearce is a chance to return as early as next Saturday’s clash with Sydney despite being a late withdrawal from Freo’s 41-point win against St Kilda at Marvel Stadium.

Pearce warmed up pre-game but was withdrawn because of a calf issue and replaced in the lineup by Bailey Banfield.

Senior Coach Justin Longmuir said Fremantle erred on the side of caution with the 27-year-old.

“Yes we hope (Pearce can play against Sydney), it’s pretty minor, but we just don’t want to take any risk of doing something serious,” Longmuir said.

“It came out of nowhere a little bit, he just had a tight calf. He felt it in the early warm up and tried a few things to get it going and he just wasn’t right so we made that call.

“He would have played but we made that call to take him out, put Griffin Logue back and we got through.

“Griff found out 15 minutes before bouncedown that he was going to play back. So I thought (Logue and Brennan Cox) both held up their end of the bargain.”

Longmuir had particular praise for key forward Rory Lobb, who stood tall with two goals without the support of Logue, who had switched to defence.

“I was really impressed. I’ve been really impressed with his efforts all year,” Longmuir said.

“It’s not just the footy season, but the moment he walked back into the Club last year, he committed to his work, he committed over the pre-season to be really competitive and connected to his teammates and it’s showing in his footy.

“You hear some of the outside stuff, but from what I’ve seen of Rory he’s connected to his teammates, he seems to be enjoying his footy and he seems to be really committed.”

One side effect of winning...
Engine room regroups