COVID REACHES FREMANTLE DOCKERS PLAYERS WITH FIVE ENTERING AFL’S HEALTH AND SAFETY...
0COVID reaches Fremantle Dockers players with five entering AFL’s Health and Safety Protocols
COVID has reached the Fremantle playing group after they lost assistant coaches Josh Carr and Matthew Boyd on Tuesday. Defenders Heath Chapman and Hayden Young. alongside Liam Henry and Matthew Johnson. who are close contacts. will join Connor Blakely in the AFL’s Health and Safety Protocols. They will all miss at least seven days. ruling them out of playing against Carlton in the Len Hall tribute match. Fremantle were forced to split the playing group in two ahead of main training on Wednesday when Blakely entered the protocols after winning 31 disposals for Peel against East Fremantle last Friday. Chapman. Young. forward Michael Frederick. and defender Luke Ryan did not make appearances at training. but so far. it seems Frederick and Ryan may have escaped unscathed. Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir was hopeful the decision to exclude WAFL players from training would prevent further cases and said he had his “fingers crossed”. “Hopefully. we can limit it.” he told 6PR. “Our players have been very diligent with mask wearing and everything they’ve needed to do.” The absence of two defenders will leave Longmuir with a selection dilemma as they look to curb the effect of Carlton spearheads Charlie Curnow (14 goals) and Harry McKay (12). However. Longmuir was confident Alex Pearce and Brennan Cox could get the job done again after keeping in form Essendon forward Peter Wright goalless on Sunday. “I feel like our backs are in really good form. so it’s a great challenge for them. especially our tall defenders ‘Pearcy’ and ‘Coxy’; they were great for us last week.” he said. “That challenge steps up for them this week. “We need to limit the supply they get. They’re getting really good supply from the midfield. so we need to limit that to help our backs out.” Longmuir has also denied dual Brownlow medallist Nat Fyfe has had another surgery on his back but did admit his recovery. while “on the right track”. was going slowly.
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