Ross Lyon said Fremantle are considering bringing in either a tall or small player to replace injured forward Matt Taberner for Sunday’s clash with Brisbane at Optus Stadium.
Taberner was ruled out for the season due to a fracture in his left foot sustained in round nine against Essendon.
Lyon highlighted Cam McCarthy as the most likely positional replacement but said that Freo wasn’t necessarily going to go with a like-for-like swap.
“Cam McCarthy had a pretty solid year, he's tapered off a little bit but his attitude and effort have been really strong,” Lyon said.
“(Defender) Griffin Logue has come back (for Peel) if we’re talking talls (but) do we go smaller and mobile?
“(Brisbane are) a really good running team so they’re things we’ll get to.”
Lyon said that Fremantle would have considered bringing in a ruckman and sending Rory Lobb forward if Sean Darcy was available.
“I think (bringing in a ruck) would have probably would have been the number one thought really but Sean Darcy is out for four to six weeks with a medial ligament in the ankle, so it’s really unfortunate for Sean and us,” Lyon said.
“We can look at Scott Jones and Lloyd Meek, but they’re in different stages of development. We’ve been really pleased with Rory’s ruckwork, it’s growing every week and (Brisbane's) Stefan Martin is a really mobile ruckman, as is Rory, so we think it will be a good challenge.”
Lyon said Fremantle are likely to continue not to tag as they face the return of dual Doig Medallist Lachie Neale for the first time in a Lions jumper.
“We haven’t tagged all year. We know what Lachie is good at and what his weaknesses are,” Lyon said.
“We’ll be looking to minimise his strengths and we'll be trying to exploit his weaknesses, as everyone has got them.
“(Brisbane) got hold of us last year at Optus Stadium, there are some lessons in that, but we’ve been able to compete against everyone so I’m confident we’ll compete and put on a really good performance.”
