Justin Longmuir has confirmed defender Reece Conca and small forward Brandon Matera will make their returns when Freo take on Geelong at Optus Stadium on Monday night.

The senior coach said Conca would make his return from a hamstring injury sustained against Adelaide in round five and replace injured defender/midfielder Stephen Hill at half back.

Hill will miss the clash after scans revealed an adductor strain following Sunday’s RAC Derby

“(Hill is) obviously a big loss. His experience and composure and run he’s brought to our backline has been significant,” Longmuir said.

“We’re confident we can cover him but he’s obviously a really good, experienced and skilful player for us.

“We’ve just got to do our best at the moment to cover him. Reece Conca will come back and play his role on one of the Geelong small forwards and, hopefully, we can cover him well enough.”

Longmuir said Matera’s inclusion comes off the back of some strong form from Freo’s tall forwards, with Rory Lobb and Matt Taberner ranking second and third respectively in the AFL for contested marks ahead of round eight.

Matera played three games between rounds two and four, kicking a goal in every game.

Longmuir believes Matera’s crumbing ability will add another dimension to Freo’s forward line. 

“Brandon Matera will come into the side for Travis Colyer. We feel like we need another crumbing player in our forward line,” Longmuir said.

“Brandon was giving us that option when he was in the side...we probably weren’t getting the supply we needed to give him enough opportunities. We feel like his real strength is his crumbing ability, his ability to get at the feet of our tall forwards.

“I think our tall forwards are going really well and that would be complemented by someone who can get at their feet and kick some crumbing goals. 

“We lacked that a little bit against West Coast, the ground level players inside forward 50. He’ll come back in and get another opportunity.”