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Fremantle are only weeks away from adding some experience to the players available for selection, according to high performance manager Jason Weber.

Running midfielder Stephen Hill remains on track to return after Fremantle’s round 12 bye as he continues recovering from a quad injury.

Hill’s availability will bring 203 games of experience back into the Fremantle squad.

“Stephen’s doing really well at the moment,” Weber said.

“He had a great run on the weekend (and was) kicking strongly.

“We’re hoping to see him progress to some good speed over this week and back into football training next week.”

Weber said that 169-gamer Hayden Ballantyne was impressing on the training track.

“Hayden had that second hamstring injury but is progressing very well and got his speed up and going this week,” Weber said.

“He’s in good spirits and training really hard.”

Weber said he was pleased with how Harley Bennell pulled up after a contested hit-out on the weekend.

Bennell played in the simulated match alongside Fremantle players not playing in the WAFL over the weekend due to a competition-wide bye. 

“Harley trained strongly with the WAFL group on the weekend in a really contested session,” Weber said. 

“He’s recovered very well and we look forward to getting him into the main session this week.” 

Weber said that defender Shane Kersten’s progress will be monitored due to challenges after foot surgery, while 265-game ruckman Aaron Sandilands returns to the running track this week.

“Aaron is doing really well and he’s back returning to running this week,” Weber said.

“We’re always hopeful to get the big man up and back into football.” 

Fremantle are remaining cautious with young forward Sam Sturt in his recovery from a concussion sustained in round three of the WAFL season.

“Sam had the second concussion (in the round three match) which is significant for a first-year player,” Weber said.

“At this stage, he’s going to be out for a further period of time in order to prepare and allow him to do the appropriate recovery.”