After getting through both of Fremantle’s main training sessions this week, captain Nat Fyfe is excited to be back in the Fremantle line-up that takes on the Western Bulldogs on Sunday.
Fyfe missed Freo’s one-point win against Sydney due to an elbow infection had a brief stay in hospital to be treated with antibiotics.
While Fyfe was pleased to have company when watching on last Saturday night, he was obviously delighted to make his return.
“It always difficult to watch on, it was a huge effort from our boys,” Fyfe said.
“(Injured defender) Alex Pearce and I sat on the couch from home and watched on, but it will be nice to get back on the plane and travel with the team.”
Fyfe said that his right elbow held up well at training.
“The elbow is good. I had a little scare last week with the infection and missed, but everything has felt pretty good this week,” Fyfe said.
“I’ve trained both sessions and I’ll fly this afternoon and look forward to playing.”
Fyfe will help lead Freo in what is expected to be a crucial midfield battle against the likes of Marcus Bontempelli, Lachie Hunter and Jack Macrae.
And he will once again line up alongside veteran ruckman Aaron Sandilands, who is set to travel with the team for the first time in 2019.
“Their midfield particularly, they’re all ball winners and ball hunters, so we’re going to have to bring our A-game,” Fyfe said.
“It’s a real luxury having Aaron in the team and, hopefully, we can get a bit of that chemistry going like we used to.”
Fyfe said that Freo was looking to rotate tall trio Sandilands, Sean Darcy and Rory Lobb through the ruck and forward line.
“I thought we trained really well today,” Fyfe said.
“We focused on our midfield and forward connection, getting into our talls, Aaron, Lobby and Sean and some crumb work, so we trained pretty well.”
