Star forward Matthew Taberner is hopeful he can play the majority of Sunday’s AAMI Community Series game against West Coast at Optus Stadium as he builds from a pre-season quad injury.
Taberner sat out last Saturday’s scratch match against West Coast and said he would train on Thursday with the aim of returning to action.
“I had a little bit of a nick in my quad a couple of weeks ago and depending on training (on Thursday) I should be good to go and hopefully play,” Taberner told 9 News.
“I’d hope to play a majority (of the game). We’re yet to work that out. I’d like to get some decent minutes with the limited pre-season run-in this year. We’ll wait and see but hopefully it’s the majority."
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Following the departure of Jesse Hogan to GWS, Fremantle’s tall forward depth has been questioned but Taberner believe both he and Rory Lobb will be well supported by the likes of Nat Fyfe and rookie draftee Josh Treacy in 2021.
“I think (Fyfe will) probably start in the midfield for most quarters and rest up forward, which is good for us with his aerial prowess,” Taberner said.
“(Treacy is) playing really well at the moment. He’s had some great pre-season games and he looked very dangerous against a good West Coast defence last week.
“He’s a ready-made player, he’s got a big body. I think he’ll play an important part this year along with Rory Lobb up forward.
“We need help down there to share the load so it’s good we’ve got us three talls that complement each other.”
Taberner said that Fremantle were hungry to return to finals.
“We were really close last year. We didn’t get off to the greatest start but we had a really strong middle part of the season and, hopefully, we’ll string a few games together early on and build a bit of momentum,” Taberner said.
“We’re not putting any limits on what we can do this year but we’re hoping for the best.”
