The decision on whether Alex Pearce will line up against Sydney on Saturday night is still yet to be made, according to Senior Coach Justin Longmuir.
The key defender was a late withdrawal due to a calf injury prior to the first bounce of Freo’s round 17 clash with St Kilda last weekend.
Pearce has played 14 out of a possible 16 games this season, missing Freo’s round four clash with GWS in addition to the Saints game.
Longmuir flagged that should Pearce play, his likely task would be to stop the influence of Sydney forward Lance Franklin - but said the key match-up wouldn’t factor into the decision.
“He’s a little bit sore, he will do a little bit tonight and it will give us a good indicator on whether he will play on the weekend,” Longmuir said.
“It’s still probably the same situation. We’ve got three days before the game, but we won’t be taking any risks, put it that way.
“He is a great match-up for ‘Buddy’, that won’t override the decision though, we will put Alex’s welfare first and the last thing we want to do is turn this into a longer injury than it needs to be.
Sydney will make the trip west off the back of an impressive 53-point victory over the Western Bulldogs last Friday night.
Freo will look to maintain its top four status, currently sitting in third position with a 12-4 record, taking on the 7th placed Swans with 10 wins and six losses.
“I watched their game last week and they were really impressive against a side who were fighting for finals,” Longmuir said.
“They played some of the better footy that I have seen this year.
“We know what we are in for and we know what their best looks like, so we need to play our best footy this weekend.”
