Senior coach Ross Lyon was hopeful Connor Blakely will return to football this weekend but added he was finding it difficult to see where the midfielder will fit into an in-form Fremantle line-up.
Blakely made his return from a hamstring injury for Peel last Saturday where he had 20 disposals.
Lyon said that Blakely was a potential inclusion for Sunday’s clash against Adelaide at Adelaide Oval if he gets through training on Friday.
“Connor’s such a critical player for us going forward and on our list,” Lyon said.
“He’s a big inside mid who went to half-back and had a best on ground when he went there.
“He’s played his first one (at Peel) and we’ll assess, he has to get through a week of training.
“What’s good is that it’s going to be difficult to get him in, even if we wanted to get him in, because the team is in form.
“That’s a good proposition to have and to deal with. We’ll work our way through that. At the end of the day, he’s just got to train and play and we’ll make a decision based on what’s best for the team.”
Lyon said Fremantle were not getting carried away with their current second-placed standing on the ladder, highlighting that things can change quickly in the AFL.
“Adelaide were written off earlier (in the season) but they’re 3-3, which is a pretty healthy position and they’ve had their fair share of injuries,” Lyon said.
“We said we were rebuilding, we’re still in a transition. We have (Adam) Cerra and (Andrew) Brayshaw, who are second-year players.
“Things are coming together and it’s good to see the hard work is starting to pay some dividends.
“We certainly can’t breathe out, we have a tough opponent this week and I think it’s just the nature of the beast.”
