Senior Coach Justin Longmuir has confirmed Sean Darcy will not be available to take on Sydney on Saturday at Optus Stadium due to his ankle injury.
The ruckman has been ruled out for the ‘short term’ due to the ankle injury sustained against Collingwood, and will miss Freo’s upcoming games against the Swans and Geelong.
“We’re still working through (a timeframe) with the specialists but he’ll miss the short term,” Longmuir told 7NEWS.
“We won’t see him this week or next week, but we’re hopeful he can play some (more) footy this season. We have to work a bit out behind the scenes.”
Longmuir said Fremantle were exploring whether Brandon Walker could make his return to football as early as round one next season.
The defender sustained a serious patella tendon knee injury against Collingwood and was stretchered off in the third quarter.
“There’s not really (a timeline). Loosely we’ve spoken about him possibly being right for round one next year,” Longmuir said.
“He’s going to have to tick a lot of boxes and jump a lot of hurdles to be able to get back to his best. He’ll be up for it and hopefully we see him early next year.
“He’s going well mentally, the boys have got around him strongly and he’s in pretty good spirits. We’ll keep getting around him and support him through what’s going to be a challenging rehab.”
'We won’t see him this week or next week.'
— Fremantle Dockers (@freodockers) July 18, 2023
JL's update on Sean Darcy, Brandon Walker's knee injury and Sebit Kuek's unfortunate ACL tear 💔@7NewsPerth | #foreverfreo pic.twitter.com/vQCaftKZKE
Sebit Kuek’s return to football will likely be in the second half of the 2024 season as the tall forward rehabs the ACL injury sustained on Sunday in the WAFL.
Longmuir said Kuek’s performances at Peel have shown his potential as a forward at Fremantle.
“(It’s) really disappointing. I think everyone’s noticed his development in the WAFL this year,” Longmuir said.
“It’s disappointing for him to do his ACL on the weekend. Like Brandon, we’ll get around him, he’ll rehab and his best footy is still ahead of him.
“He has time on his side but it’s really disappointing.”
Despite the injuries, Fremantle are likely to have three players become available in Hayden Young and Michael Frederick from injury, and Caleb Serong from suspension.
“(Young and Frederick) will do a bit of training tomorrow and we’ll see where they’re at, but they’re really good chances of returning,” Longmuir said.
“It will obviously be good to get Caleb back from his suspension.”
Sebit Kuek injury update
The AFLW fixture is here
WAFL player stats: Peel v East Fremantle