Freo senior coach Ross Lyon has indicated that midfielder Michael Barlow and defender Paul Duffield will warm up for round one with a return to footy in the WAFL.
 
Peel Thunder, Freo’s partner WAFL club, will open its 2015 season away to West Perth on Saturday 28 March at HBF Arena.
 
Lyon said the duo were almost a certainty to return to competitive footy with Peel, one week before Freo’s season opener against Port Adelaide on Easter Sunday.
 
“We think he’ll (Barlow) play the following week and Duffield probably the following week,” he said.
 
“They’ll play for Peel…you’re entitled to do that if you’ve missed a chunk of pre-season games, which is a really good opportunity.”
 
Lyon also took the opportunity to give an update on the rest of Freo’s injury list.
 
Hayden Ballantyne: He’s had a positive calf test, so he’ll be in rehab now and working his way though until they get him back in full football, whenever that is. I know everyone likes timeframes, but at the end of the day, they map out programs but if they have one hiccup on one day it puts them back a day, but in effect it can become a week. I’m not too sure at the minute.
 
Tendai Mzungu: He’s sort of on the minor end. He and Hayden won’t play this week.
 
Matt Taberner: He’ll probably miss this week, we just want to get him right. He’s had a grumble in his calf or Achilles.
 
Ed Langdon and Alex Pearce: They didn’t have stress fractures, but they had some stress reactions. Probably the most disappointing one was Alex Pearce as we see a really strong future for him and as a young, tall defender. It hasn’t been ideal for him, but we’d like to see him play some senior footy. We’re getting some good availability back…they’re (Langdon and Pearce) basically ready (to play for Peel).