Fremantle senior coach Justin Longmuir believes rookie forward Josh Treacy is ready to make the step up to AFL football but was reluctant to lock in any injury replacements as the coaching group assess their options for round one against Melbourne on Saturday 20 March.
Freo are counting the cost of their pre-season AAMI Community Series clash against West Coast where forwards Rory Lobb (knee), Michael Walters (hamstring), Mitch Crowden (calf) and Bailey Banfield (syndesmosis) were all injured.
Speaking on Fox Footy’s AFL Tonight, Longmuir said Fremantle were looking at a number of options for round one.
“We feel like we’ve got some good depth in the forward-line and some good small forwards have been missing out on opportunities over the pre-season, so they’ll be champing at the bit to come in as replacements,” Longmuir told Fox Footy.
“Trying to replace a 207cm tall forward who can pinch-hit in the ruck and can play high minutes (Lobb) is going to be difficult.
“We feel like we’ve got some options and a lot of different options, we’re just going to have to work through them as a match committee and pick a really well balanced team that’s going to give us the best chance of defending in our front half and attacking.
“We’ve got a bit of work to do as a coaching group to try and get that balance.”
Longmuir said the likes of Treacy, Liam Henry, Sam Switkowski and Travis Colyer were all in line for selection.
If Treacy is selected, it would be a remarkable rise for the 18-year-old after being selected in the rookie draft only late last year.
“Liam is one of the guys who I was talking about, and Sam Switkowski who played most of 2019 and missed all of last year,” Longmuir said.
“Travis Colyer has been missing out on significant game time because of our depth with our small forwards, so they’ll all come into consideration.
“We’ve been rapt with what big Josh Treacy has been doing for us as a first-year rookie, he’s ready and got a body for AFL footy so we just need to weigh up all those options and see what gives us the best balance.
“I’m sure we’re not going to get the perfect balance round one but we’ve got plenty of time to work on it and look to improve as the year unfolds.”
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