Fremantle can be sweating on the health of Nat Fyfe after the necessary veteran was subbed out within the second half of Saturday’s loss to Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium.
Fyfe reported foot soreness at three-quarter time earlier than being changed by younger gun Neil Erasmus in a worrying signal given his harm historical past.
The twin Brownlow medallist didn’t play between rounds one and eight due to a plantar fascia subject and coach Justin Longmuir revealed post-match that it was the identical foot.
“His foot has gotten sore, it’s the same foot I think as he’s had issues with this year and it was sore so we took the opportunity to get some fresh legs on,” Longmuir mentioned.
Longmuir mentioned it was “too early to tell” whether or not it will lead to Fyfe lacking extra video games together with subsequent week’s house conflict in opposition to Carlton.
“It’s too early to tell, we’ll see how it pulls up,” he mentioned.
“He’ll be disappointed having been subbed out and it flaring up again.
He’ll be disappointed having been subbed out and it flaring up again.
“We’ll get him home and assess it further and see what it means.
“With plantar fascia, it never really goes away until you get an extended period of time off.
“He’s had some awareness there and it got a bit sorer than usual and he felt like he couldn’t go anymore.”
The 31-year-old signed a two-year contract extension final month, making him a one-club participant, after a formidable run of kind coming again into Fremantle’s midfield.
Fyfe would have turn out to be useful within the engine-room within the closing time period because the Bulldogs dominated the clearance battle on their option to kicking seven of the final 9 majors.
“For a little period of time we lost control in the contest,” Longmuir mentioned.
“They kicked three stoppage goals in a row and our backs, particularly early, were holding up really well but we just couldn’t hold up in that moment.
“Three goals pretty quickly turned into five and the game was blown open.”
Big man Luke Jackson solely competed in 9 ruck contests for the match and none within the closing time period as he battled soreness, leaving key ahead Josh Treacy (16 ruck contests and 9 hit-outs) to offer Doig medallist Sean Darcy (89 and 50 hit-outs) a chop out in opposition to Tim English and Rory Lobb.
Longmuir felt Fremantle had been the higher staff within the second and third quarters however couldn’t capitalise on the scoreboard, booting 4.5 from 28 inside-50 entries.
“It’s disappointing because we were so good most of the day,” he mentioned.
“Those middle two quarters we were up in the contest, owning field position and we only kicked four goals in those second and third quarters when we had the majority of field position.
“We won inside 50s in that period but also the amount of forward-50 stoppages we had.
“I thought out territory in the third quarter was really strong and we didn’t maximise that.
“It was probably as ineffective as we’ve been going forward through that period of time, either through shallow entries or we weren’t predictable to each other.
“I didn’t think we provided clear targets for the kicker and just didn’t maximise that bit of dominance.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
