Sean Darcy remains a chance to play pre-season games and be ready for round one, according to senior coach Justin Longmuir.
 
The ruckman picked up a minor knee injury just over two weeks ago and has since worn a knee brace.
 
He sat out Saturday’s training session which saw Fremantle return to the club for the first time after a five-day lockdown across Perth, Peel and the South West region.
 
Longmuir was hopeful of seeing the ruckman back when Fremantle play Adelaide in the AAMI Community Series at Fremantle Oval on Saturday 6 March.
 
“We expect him to play some games in the pre-season. We’re hoping he’ll be ready for our game against Adelaide,” Longmuir said.
 
“That will give him a couple weeks after that, leading into round one. We’re pretty confident he’ll be there.
 
“I’m really confident that this is just a little mishap and he can return to being the durable player he was at the end of last year. He did play a lot of footy for us.”

Longmuir also provided a positive update on forward / midfielder Michael Walters, who has been held back this pre-season with a foot injury.
 
Walters took part in half of Fremantle’s match sim as Fremantle got straight back into their 2021 preparations after a week off the track.
 
“(Michael’s) tracking really well. He’ll do some match sim today,” Longmuir said.
 
“He’ll probably do around half of it, which is a great progression for him. We’ll continue to build him and he’s looking really positive for round one.”
 
Griffin Logue is expected to recover from a hamstring injury and return to full training soon but Longmuir said Freo were going to be conservative with the defender.
 
“Griffin will do some training today and he’ll build, much like some of the others,” Longmuir said.
 
“He had a little hammy, which he did probably about three weeks ago now.
 
“(We’re being) more precautionary…he’s had a bit of history with injuries so we’ve looked to get a little more load into him and build him up. He’s right to go now.”
 
Longmuir said forward Sam Sturt was unlikely to be available for the start of the season as he continues to recover from ankle surgery.
 
“’Sturty’ is still progressing from that ankle injury at the end of last year. It’s been a really slow build,” Longmuir said.
 
“It’s been a little bit slower than we would have liked. He’s probably going to be pushing it for round one at this stage but he’s back running a little on the grass now.
 
“He’ll look to build into some sort of training over the next couple of weeks and we’ll ramp him up as quick as we can but on the flip side we’ve got to make sure he’s durable when he comes back.
 
“We’re really excited about what he can do, we’ve just got to make sure we’re really careful with him.”