Fremantle midfielder Darcy Tucker remains hopeful for the return of Nat Fyfe this Saturday against St Kilda, but added Freo’s midfield is building the confidence to perform without relying on their star skipper.
It was a team effort from Freo’s engine room in their win against Adelaide on Sunday, with Tucker, Andrew Brayshaw, Adam Cerra and David Mundy all among Freo’s best.
Tucker had plenty of praise for his fellow mids.
“I was really proud of Andy and Cez and how they went at the weekend in how they stepped up,” Tucker said.
“David Mundy was exceptional in the midfield and provided the leadership that we needed without Fyfey.
“It’s good to see, as a midfield group, when Fyfey isn’t there that we can step up, but we all just try to execute our roles in there and I think we were really good inside.
“Whether we have Fyfey or not this week, we’ll just look to do the same thing again and all execute our roles.”
Fyfe trained away from his fellow midfielders on Wednesday as he continues to build his fitness after sustaining a hamstring injury in round four.
“He’s still working to get through training this week,” Tucker said.
“He did train in some sense, but we’re still in our small groups and he’s still in the rehab group. We’ll see how he goes this week. Hopefully, he gets through training and plays for us this weekend.
“From all reports, his strength test and everything is going very well with his rehab.”
Fyfe may not be the only midfield inclusion, with former St Kilda mid Blake Acres a chance to make his Freo debut after recovering from a corked calf.
“We’d love to have Blake back in,” Tucker said.
“He’s been training the house down and doing everything right in his rehab.
“Obviously he’s been out of footy for a long time. But from all reports he went really well in the scratch match last week. It’d be awesome to have him in.
“Coming from the Saints, he knows a lot about them. We haven’t got to the Saints yet with opposition analysis but I’d say he’d have a fair bit on them and know them inside out. We’ll lean on him a bit.”
