Anthony Morabito is set to play his first game of football for two years after being named to play for Peel Thunder against East Perth in the WAFL on Saturday.
Morabito, 24, hasn't played a senior game since August 2014. Earlier that season he had made a remarkable comeback to AFL football from three knee reconstructions that had kept him out of three consecutive seasons.
He played three AFL games for Fremantle in 2014 and 16 WAFL games for Peel.
But he did not play any football in 2015 as ongoing soreness in his left knee forced him to take a break from training.
He went overseas mid-year to allow his knee to rest before returning at the start of the pre-season.
Fremantle took him off their main list but redrafted him as a rookie and he trained strongly over the summer, seemingly free of any knee soreness. But he tore his hamstring at a training session in February and was sidelined for a couple of months.
Morabito has been back in full training and was close to playing in the WAFL last week but coach Ross Lyon said last week that the Fremantle Dockers wanted give him an extra week of training.
Players lining up for Peel: Saturday 9 April
"He's available but he'd like to get another week of full training under his belt and really condition well," Lyon said on March 31.
"I think another week to give him his best chance of being resilient will be really good for Anthony and us."
Morabito has been named to play for Peel on Saturday and looks set for a role as a rebounding defender after training with the Fremantle Dockers' defensive group during the pre-season.
"All summer he'd been coming off the half-back line," Lyon said.
"I think straight ahead, the game in front of you, it's a bit easier to bounce out.
"He's not an endurance beast so it's a speed and kick component and hopefully he could develop into an (Garrick) Ibbotson or a (Michael) Johnson type of player if everything goes the right way."
Morabito started as a powerful goalkicking midfielder in 2010. He averaged 13 disposals and kicked 13 goals in 23 games in his debut season after being recruited with pick No.4 in the 2009 NAB AFL draft.
