Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir says the Dockers will take a long-term strategy with Michael Walters’ Achilles damage, as a recreation for Peel in a pre-season conflict this weekend looms massive.
Walters, 32, has missed the previous few weeks of coaching with the damage and it’s put him unsure to tackle his former mentor Ross Lyon and St Kilda at Marvel Stadium on Sunday.
Michael Frederick (quad) is match and set to play, that means the Dockers don’t must rush the 2019 All-Australian again too early and threat re-aggravating the damage.
Longmuir wouldn’t rule Walters out of enjoying towards the Saints, with a choice to be made later this week if he’ll play within the AFL or for the Thunder towards Subiaco in Mandurah on Saturday.
“It’s a balance between what’s best for us round one and what’s best for us for the rest of the year, from round two onwards,” Longmuir instructed 7NEWS.
“I’m confident Sonny will play some minutes this week. Where that is we will have to wait until after we get through training, but he’s on the right track.
“And if he doesn’t play this week in the AFL, he won’t be far away.”
Longmuir mentioned Jaeger O’Meara (ankle), Brennan Cox (hip and knee) and Luke Ryan (again) can be out there to sort out the Saints after accidents hindered them in latest weeks.
The Dockers can be with out speedster Travis Colyer for not less than the subsequent six weeks after he had minor surgical procedure to repair a “minor knee irritation” earlier this week.
“He’s recovering well, the surgeon thinks it will be a timeframe of around six weeks before he can return to play,” soccer boss Peter Bell mentioned.
“Everyone recovers at their own rate, so we’ll work through that with Trav and make sure he’s ready when he does come back.”
Longmuir mentioned he cherished the Dockers being thought-about premiership contenders as they appear to again up their finals look from final 12 months with an improved effort in 2023.
“It’s great to have expectations because it means you’re relevant, people are seeing you as a good team,” Longmuir mentioned.
“I love it. It’s just that we can’t get caught up in that talk because it counts for nothing.
“I told the players when they first got back to the start pre-season that we started at the bottom.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
