Fremantle senior coach Ross Lyon says key defender Joel Hamling would need to undergo further testing before the key defender is cleared to play against GWS on Saturday at UNSW Canberra Oval.
Hamling came off in the second term of the RAC Derby in round four due to concussion and did not return to the field.
Lyon said that Hamling would need to go through the same protocol as Nat Fyfe, who has been cleared to play against the Giants after being concussed in round three.
“Nat trained fully on Tuesday, he’s symptom-free and passed his cog-state. He’s cleared to go…(however) all of our players need to train and get through our T2 training session.” Lyon said.
“Joel is where Nathan was (a week prior). Concussions, I don’t want to grade or interpret, as it’s a really dangerous space except to say that there were some symptoms that are strongly moving in the right direction with how he’s feeling.
“(The testing) is a day off today, so you give everyone their best opportunity but there will be no risks taken.
“He needs to jump through the exact same protocols which is to be symptom-free and then you’re allowed to sit the cog-state test.
“If you pass the cog-state and train and feel ok, the player makes the assessment within themselves on how they feel to declare themselves ready to play.”
Lyon said that Fremantle have a number of options to cover Hamling.
This includes versatile key tall Brennan Cox, who returned from injury to play for Peel in the WAFL last Saturday.
“Full backs are hard to find, Joel’s in good form, he’s one of our leaders and leading strongly so we’d love him to be available,” Lyon said.
“He’s really important, we’re defending quite well. He’s a key pillar down there.
“Brennan is important availability for us. He was in good form before he got hurt.
“He can play back, Ryan Nyhuis was our emergency last week, Jesse Hogan can really go back and play key back as well, so we feel like we have some options if needed. We’ll make that decision when we have to.”
