The end of pre-season is fast approaching with Fremantle’s final intraclub of the summer to be played at Victor George Kailis Oval, Cockburn on Sunday morning.

The last hit out of pre-season comes next weekend when Fremantle plays Melbourne in an AAMI Community Series match at Rushton Park, Mandurah on Sunday 2 March.

Speaking to ABC Radio Summer Sports Talk, Fremantle Executive General Manager of Football Joe Brierty told Mitch Turner players are ready for another hit-out following last weekend’s loss to the Indigenous All Stars at Optus Stadium.

“We definitely learned a few things around fundamentals, just taking your opportunities across the ground and in the contest (against the All Stars),” said Brierty.

“It allowed us to jump on Optus Stadium, which you don’t normally get in pre-season.

“Apart from Sam Switkowski - who unfortunately got a concussion - we got through with a clean bill of health that really allowed us to look at some focuses over the next three weeks as we prepare for round one.

“The players are definitely ready and feeling like round one can’t come quick enough.”

Brierty confirmed Switkowski is recovering well in concussion protocols and is on track to play against the Demons.

“He’s ticked all the boxes to date. He’ll transition into some contact footy next week and planning that he can play some footy against Melbourne,” Brierty said.

Brierty also provided updates on ruckman Sean Darcy and veteran midfielder Nat Fyfe, who’ve both had minor surgery this pre-season.

Darcy had a screw removed to clear an infection from an historical ankle operation in 2023.

“Pleasing that Sean’s been able to continue to do his knee rehab while he’s had the infection clear up,” Brierty said.

“Having that (screw) taken out probably just slowed him down a little bit in terms of his on-field progression, but he’ll transition back into some loading over the next week or so and transition back into footy.

“He’ll have a block of footy over three to four weeks and that’ll make him available for selection. What level that’s at – we’ll get a better read on that over the coming weeks.

“We’ll take our time and make sure we get him cherry ripe for competing at AFL level. If that means he needs to play some footy at WAFL level, we’ll obviously have those discussions with Sean and make sure he’s ready to go. We’ve been really open in the fact that we want to see Sean having a sustained period at AFL level.”

Dual Brownlow Medallist Fyfe is returning from minor knee surgery last month.

“He’s doing some decent loading now in footy circuits in his rehab program,” Brierty told the ABC.

“I expect that he’ll drip feed into main training over the next week or so and then look for him having some competitive hit outs in the early part of the season.

“Probably the week before round one whether he can get some minutes in. Whether that’s training with the AFL group or whether there’s an opportunity with a Peel intraclub, then round one flows into that. We expect to see him back with the main group in early March.”