Fremantle defender Garrick Ibbotson says injuries to a number of key players during the final weeks of the season did not cost the club a spot in the Grand Final.
Nat Fyfe will undergo minor surgery this week after fracturing the fibula in his left leg early in the first quarter of Friday night’s loss to Preliminary Final against Hawthorn.
It comes after captain Matthew Pavlich played with ongoing tendon soreness for much of the second half of the year.
Veteran defender Luke McPharlin did not play after round 22 due to a calf injury while Hayden Crozier (calf) and Jon Griffin (hamstring) also missed several weeks due to injury.
“We had a good lead up to the game, a lot of our group got to rest for a couple of weeks,” Ibbotson said.
“Everyone who puts their hand up to play is expected to play at 100 per cent.
“The team that went into the game on the weekend was fully capable.
“Fyfey got his injury during the game, which hampered him a little bit.
“The team we had on the weekend was capable, it was not an injury problem.”
Injury did not cost us: Ibbotson
Garrick Ibbotson says injuries to a number of key players during the final weeks of the season did not cost the club a spot in the Grand Final