Joel Hamling is set to return to the football ‘bubble’ at Fremantle as he continues to rehabilitate his injured ankle.
Hamling has been ruled out for the season after dislocating his ankle in the pre-season, with Justin Longmuir saying it had been a difficult few months for the defender.
“My latest (discussion) with Joel was that he’s really keen to get back to the club, he’s getting his Covid test today to come back next week,” Longmuir said.
“He’s attending surgical review with our medical staff today. With all of my dealings with Joel, it’s been largely positive and largely pointed to the fact that he can’t wait to get back to the club.”
After having his own injury problems in his playing career, Longmuir said he empathised with Hamling’s current situation.
“It’s the worst spot to be in...being injured in the AFL. The team’s going well at the moment and you don’t feel a part of it,” Longmuir said.
“I fully understand that angle of it. Alex Pearce is going through that, all of our injured players are going through that and would have their dark moments - that’s the worst part of being an AFL footballer, it really is.
“We need to wrap our arms around those guys, give them support and show them a part back into the team and into playing AFL football.
“We’ll get Joel back to the club and around the boys and make him feel a part of it as he’s lacked that in the past couple of weeks.”
Longmuir provided an update on injured forward Sam Sturt, who had surgery on Thursday on his injured ankle.
“Sturty went in and had surgery yesterday and he ended up having an operation similar to Hayden Young’s operation,” Longmuir said.
“It looks likes he will be done for the year I would imagine, or close to it.
“It’s really disappointing. He injured it at training before the Saints game and it’s come up a lot worse than what we first anticipated.
“It didn’t heal like we thought it would and he’s ended up having surgery on the back of that. We’ll rehab him and get him back next year and give him a good pre-season and start again.”
