Brennan Cox is set to make his return to the line-up on Sunday afternoon when Fremantle take on Brisbane at Optus Stadium.
The key defender has missed the past three games with an ankle issue after sustaining the injury in Freo’s round 17 clash with Carlton.
There are no forced changes at this stage with Matthew Johnson, Ethan Stanley and Nathan Wilson coming into the squad of 26 players - joining Joel Hamling, Ethan Hughes, Jaeger O’Meara, Sam Sturt and Josh Corbett on the extended interchange.
Senior Coach Justin Longmuir flagged that selection for the Lions clash would be difficult, after Cox pulled up well from Freo’s main training session on Wednesday.
“It's a pretty significant hurdle Brennan has got to get through. He has to get through some agility work (at Wednesday’s main training) and then make sure he pulls up okay but he's tracking well,” Longmuir said.
“Brisbane have a lot of aerial threats in their forward half. Whoever misses out is going to be pretty stiff because it was a really even performance on the weekend. That's footy though sometimes.
“We'd consider (Cox going forward) but one of our forwards would be pretty stiff to miss out as well because we have to get the balance right down there.”
The starting 22 will be confirmed at 3pm Friday via fremantlefc.com.au and the substitute will be announced an hour before bouncedown.
Bouncedown for the clash is at 2.40pm WST and will be broadcast live into WA on Channel 7, Fox Footy and it can also be streamed on Kayo.
SQUAD v BRISBANE
INCLUSIONS FROM: Brennan Cox, Matthew Johnson, Ethan Stanley and Nathan Wilson
B: Brennan Cox, Alex Pearce, Corey Wagner
HB: Jordan Clark, Luke Ryan, Hayden Young
C: Liam Henry, Neil Erasmus, James Aish
HF: Sam Switkowski, Josh Treacy, Lachie Schultz
F: Michael Frederick, Jye Amiss, Michael Walters
R/Fol: Luke Jackson, Caleb Serong, Andy Brayshaw
Interchange from: Matthew Johnson, Ethan Stanley, Joel Hamling, Nathan Wilson, Ethan Hughes, Jaeger O’Meara, Sam Sturt, Josh Corbett
