Ahead of his 150-game milestone this weekend at the Club’s Starlight Purple Haze Game, proudly presented by South32, experienced defender Luke Ryan paid homage to the Club that gave him his AFL career.

Speaking at his Thursday afternoon media conference, Ryan thanked Fremantle for ‘taking a chance’ on him when they drafted the then 20-year-old with pick 66 in the 2016 National Draft.

“I obviously owe Freo a lot, they took a gamble on me and hopefully I’ve got a few more games in me and I can repay the favour to them,” Ryan said.

“I've got a fair bit of family coming over and a few mates so it should be good.

“Hopefully we put on a good performance and get the four points.”

When questioned about the return of Club captain Alex Pearce, Ryan could not dive into the specifics of squad selection but did not deny he was looking forward to lining up alongside Alex Pearce and Brennan Cox for the first time since round 24 of 2023.

“If we get him (Alex Pearce) back this week it’s going to be a massive boost and he will be handy to have back in that’s for sure,” Ryan said.

“Coxy (Brennan Cox), Moose and I haven’t played together down back in quite a while.

“We will get a strong team in, but we will still have to do all the right things.

“As I said against Sydney it wasn’t just up to one person to lift the voice (in the absence of Pearce), it’s up to everyone.”

With the key defensive stocks of Pearce, Cox and Oscar McDonald all missing multiple games this season through injury, Fremantle debuted NGA prospect Joshua Draper in round two to fill the void left in the absence of more experienced players.

Draper has since played 15 games for the season, constantly taking up a role on the opposition's best key forwards.

“As a backline we’ve all grown having Moose out, so it’s been a blessing in disguise I suppose,” Ryan said.

“The boys that have been playing with all those guys out have been unbelievable.

“Drapes (Draper) has gotten a go and he’s been enormous.

“He’s grown in every game he’s played so he is going to be one for the future.

“I think his best game was probably against Sydney over there as well.

“That was an unbelievable game with what he did, he’s getting more and more confidence, getting louder out on the park, louder on the field and he’s growing each week.

“He’s going to be really exciting for us for a long time. He’s going to be a star."