Fremantle was hit by three severe injuries before their sensational clash on Sunday with another aspirant at the Brisbane premiere.
Matt Taberner was eliminated from the match against Melbourne on Saturday after suffering from back cramps and did not recover in time to face the Lions.
Michael Walters and Heath Chapman joined him on the injury list.
Chapman injured his hamstring on Thursday at Fremantle’s main practice in Cockburn, while Walters also has a hamstring problem and has been in rehab since Thursday.
Walters missed a trip that the club lost to the Gold Coast last month because he was in COVID isolation, but returned just days after he appeared to face Collingwood and play again against the Demons.
Football general manager Peter Bell said the club would not know the extent of Chapman’s injury until he received the scan results.
“Unfortunately, Heath will not be available to play against Brisbane after suffering a hamstring injury in Thursday’s practice,” he told the club’s website.
“In the coming days, they will undergo scans to clarify the extent of the injury.
“Michael has some tension and consciousness in his hamstring, so we’ve decided not to take a risk this week.”
Taberner was listed as a test after failing to play Demons, and Bell said earlier this week that he would have to make “significant improvements” to be ready to play.
The high key forward has missed five games this season, including a thigh tendon injury that knocked him out for three weeks last month.
“He had some back cramps very late in the game, so we took him off the field, he got a little stiff and sore, sometimes he had a bit of history with these types of incidents, a little slower. “Go earlier in the week,” Bell said on Monday.
Forgotten Dockers Nathan Wilson, Connor Blakely, Mitch Crowden and Ethan Hughes were added to the expanded bench, along with replacement handler Lloyd Meek and first-year midfielder Neil Erasmus.
Michael Frederick, who played in Melbourne’s shock, and Bailey Banfield, who replaced Taberner as a quarterback injury substitute, complete the bench.
If chosen, it would be the first game of the year for Blakely, Hughes or Wilson, with the last pair being a similar option for Chapman.
Walters’ absence could cause Banfield to be recalled to starting 22.
For Brisbane, Hugh McCluggage will return as part of an expanded bench that also includes potential inclusions of Tom Berry, Tom Fullarton and Rhyes Mathieson.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that dual medalist Brownlow and club captain Nathan Fyfe would return to football in the WAFL, rather than the senior team.
This is the first time in ten years that this superstar midfielder has appeared in the state league and it is his debut in Peel Thunder.
He comes 10 months after his shoulder injury stopped him, a period when he underwent back surgery after a complication.
More will come.
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