Fremantle may go into Wednesday’s clash with Richmond at Metricon Stadium without star defender Luke Ryan, who came off in the fourth quarter in Saturday’s clash with GWS at Optus Stadium.
Ryan hurt his hip in a marking contest in the third term and remained on the ground before coming off late in the game.
Senior coach Justin Longmuir said Ryan could miss the Tigers clash.
“Luke landed heavily in a marking contest against (Ian) Hill, he hurt his hip,” Longmuir said.
“It just looks like it’s bruised but he was a bit sore. There was no point leaving him out there if he’s sore, so we decided to take him off.
“Of course he is (in doubt).”
Longmuir said Fremantle would look at resting some of their players in the coming weeks after starting a run of four games in 15 days against the Giants.
He added the quick turnarounds would be a good experience for some of Freo’s younger players.
“It (making changes) is something we will look at. If it’s not this week on our four-day break, then with the game after we’ve got a five-day break, so we will start looking to give some players a rest if they need to,” Longmuir said.
“Also, on the other hand I think it’s a good opportunity for our players to actually build some resilience and understand how much work the body can handle. So I think if they are up to it, we will look to give our players as much game time and as many games over this period as we can.
“I think it’s a good thing for (Andy) Brayshaw and (Adam) Cerra to have to back up and learn to tolerate playing with a bit of soreness. It won’t hurt them in the long run, it will just build resilience in our group.
“We’re not just going to rest players for the sake of resting players. They will have to be sore, and have something wrong with them to get that luxury.”
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