Nathan Wilson says he and his teammates are ready to have the back of their captain Nat Fyfe if he receives a hard tag against Richmond on Wednesday at Metricon Stadium.
In round 14 former Freo Docker Matt de Boer of the Giants helped restrict Fyfe to an uncharacteristic 11 disposals as GWS won by 38 point at Optus Stadium last Saturday.
De Boer was fined $500 for misconduct on Fyfe after shoving the midfielder over the fence early in the game, and Wilson said it was up to all players to protect their teammates.
“If someone’s going after our…especially our captain, we need to stick up for him,” Wilson said.
“If Nat comes to us and says we need to stick up for him a bit more, I’ll be straight into it.
“If Fyfe gets tagged this week by anyone, by the Tigers, if they go after him, we’ve got to look after him.”
Wilson said the whole group had embraced the their second Queensland hub as well as the challenge of facing Richmond off a four-day break.
“I think every single team is over here now at the moment. We’re grateful to Queensland for (hosting the hub) and happy to be back and ready to get going on Wednesday night,” Wilson said.
“The body is still in recovery mode to be honest. We’ll have a little bit of a run at training tonight and get going a bit tomorrow to get ready for a game.
“It’s my first time doing it (a four day break) it’s going to be interesting to see how we go but we look forward to it.”
Fellow backman Luke Ryan is a test for the game and Wilson was hopeful his teammate would play.
“Touch wood, he’s hopefully ready to go,” Wilson said.
“He’ll go for a little run tonight and a bit more recovery tomorrow and then hopefully, he’ll take on the Tigers on Wednesday.”
