Fremantle are assessing how to work around the absence of forward / ruckman Rory Lobb ahead of round one against Melbourne on Saturday 20 March at the MCG.
In an interview on 6PR, executive general manager of football Peter Bell said Lobb’s knee injury would keep him out of action for approximately 10-12 weeks.
As well as potentially bringing in a debutant in Josh Treacy or swinging captain Nat Fyfe forward, Bell agreed with a suggestion that Alex Pearce could be used up front.
“It’s certainly something we’ve discussed and we’ve thrown up a few names, albeit it’s only 48 hours since Rory’s injury,” Bell told 6PR.
“The coaches would have been thinking about it and Alex is someone that we’ve spoken about.
“Clearly he’s a good defender, we’ll be looking at all the different options and talking to all the players.
“It’s pleasing that Griffin Logue’s not too far away and we know that Nathan (Fyfe) can play forward as well, but clearly he’s a very good midfielder too.
“We have a lot of options and haven’t settled on anything yet.”
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If Sean Darcy (knee) is available for round one, Bell said that Fremantle could also go with two rucks rotating through the forward line.
“Sean will be really close to round one … that’s certainly one of the conversations (senior coach) Justin Longmuir and the coaches will be having about Sean’s capacity to play that tall forward role, which he’s done at times as a resting ruckman,” Bell said.
“We’ve got a great deal of confidence he can perform that role if we needed him to.”
If Darcy doesn’t play against Melbourne, Bell backed Lloyd Meek to debut after holding his own against Eagles star Nic Naitanui on Sunday at Optus Stadium.
“Lloyd’s been fantastic over the past couple of weeks. Obviously Nic Naitanui is a superstar ruckman and Lloyd really acquitted himself well,” Bell said.
“He’s a good runner but obviously inexperienced as far as AFL is concerned but he’s right in the frame and we’ve got a lot of confidence in Lloyd.”
Bell was asked about the availability of several players who sat out the AAMI Community Series including Darcy, Logue, Adam Cerra, Brett Bewley and Luke Valente.
Caleb Serong and Luke Ryan are also expected to be available after being rested against the Eagles.
“There’s a really strong possibility that all of them (Darcy, Logue, Cerra, Bewley and Valente) will be (available),” Bell said.
“They’re all at varying stages. Some of them will have some minutes this weekend we think.
“(Valente will) play down at Peel and get some minutes in there and the rest of those guys will all be line ball for round one.
“Hopefully, we don’t sustain any more injuries at training over the next couple of weeks, and then our injury list will look a lot healthier come round one.”
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