Fremantle are set to welcome back young stars Heath Chapman and Nathan O’Driscoll for Thursday’s pre-season clash against Port Adelaide at Fremantle Oval, according to Senior Coach Justin Longmuir.
Luke Jackson will miss the clash however, with Fremantle being conservative with the ruck / forward after he sustained a head knock in Friday’s match sim against the Crows.
Longmuir added that Luke Ryan (back), Michael Walters (achilles) and Michael Frederick (quad) would remain sidelined after missing the match sim, but all are in the frame for round one.
“Chappy will hopefully play, he just needs to get through training,” Longmuir said.
“Luke Ryan will miss again, it’s not very serious but it’s a little bit of a tricky one with his back injury. We’ll give him another week off given it’s a six-day break and it happened late last week.
“Driz (O’Driscoll) will play, that’s a pretty quick turnaround from that hotspot (in his foot) which is good news, we’ll just have to work out game time and what level.
“Luke Jackson got a knock in a contest and had a bit of delayed headaches from that, so we’ll rule him out this week because there’s a no risk policy around head knocks. He should be right come round one.
“Freddy is tracking really well, he hasn’t missed a beat in his rehab.
“Sonny is probably a little bit of a tricky injury with his achilles. We’re not going to rush him and we need to make sure once he comes back, he’s ready to play out the whole season.
“We’re hopeful both of them (Walters and Frederick) are right for round one.”
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Longmuir acknowledged Fremantle’s depth was exposed in Friday’s match sim with Adelaide, where the Crows dominated late in a 165-93 victory over seven segments.
Fremantle played the final three segments with nine Peel top-up players, while the Crows had three Thunder players topping up their list.
He said Fremantle were ‘flat’ after starting strongly and kicking the opening three goals, and credited Adelaide’s strength through their list.
“Adelaide are really healthy at the moment,” Longmuir said.
“We’ve got a bit of work to do with some of our developing players to get them up to AFL standard, but we knew that when we put them on the list.
“We’ll be patient with them and keep pushing them along in the background to fast-track their development.
“We probably had five to six guys out who would be in our best 22 or 25. To get them back in the short term, that will add to our depth.”
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