Senior coach Justin Longmuir is confident Joel Hamling can return to football in 2022 after playing only one game in the past two seasons due to an ankle injury,
Hamling went back for further surgery on his ankle last week in Melbourne, which ended his season after playing just one game in round one.
Longmuir said he was looking forward to seeing the defender back on the park.
“I'm really confident he can get back. It's been a hard two years for him,” Longmuir told 7NEWS.
“He's in good spirits and said he's really happy with the surgery that he had on his ankle.
“Hopefully, it's onwards and upwards for him because it's been a pretty ordinary two years for him.”
Longmuir said midfielder Stephen Hill was set to get minutes for Peel’s league side this Sunday against Claremont after making his return via the reserves on Saturday against East Fremantle.
“We'll look to build his game time gradually,” Longmuir said.
“Hopefully, we get him up for enough minutes to be able to play league footy.
“Sometimes it can be hard when you're playing with players you don't really know in the ‘ressies’.
“We'll get him up in the league side, progress his minutes and look to continue to build his way back in the AFL side.”
Defender Hayden Young is a slim chance to play his first AFL game since round three after playing three quarters of football for Peel against East Fremantle.
Longmuir said the five-day break, with Fremantle playing on Geelong on Thursday night, could work against a return this week.
“He will be a chance, he was on restricted minutes on the weekend,” Longmuir said.
“We'll look at build his footy, given that it's a five-day break and he's coming off a big hamstring injury, we'll probably look to be conservative, but that's yet to be decided.”
The clash against the third-placed Geelong is a crucial one for Fremantle, who are looking to consolidate their place in the top eight.
“It's another great challenge for us as a young group,” Longmuir said.
“The good thing is we're going be back home in front of the crowd, which we haven't played in front of for a few weeks now.
“We really want the Purple Army to get out and support us in what's a big game for us.”
Mundy: What's his secret?
Injury update: Round 18
All Freo in the votes
Stand out stats v Hawthorn
