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Dockers, Eagles sweat on injured defenders

3 minute read

West Coast and Fremantle both have injury concerns heading into Sunday's AFL derby, with a crowd of 45,000 permitted for the game despite the recent lockdown.

DARCY TUCKER (R) of the Dockers.
DARCY TUCKER (R) of the Dockers. Picture: Daniel Carson/AFL Media/Getty Images

Fremantle will be boosted by the return of midfielder Darcy Tucker for Sunday's western derby against West Coast, but both sides are sweating on the fitness of their star defenders.

Tucker hasn't played an AFL match since tearing his hamstring in the round-eight loss to Geelong nine months ago.

The 24-year-old's inclusion will help bolster an in-form midfield that has Nat Fyfe, David Mundy, Caleb Serong, and Andrew Brayshaw firing on all cylinders.

Dockers coach Justin Longmuir is optimistic key defender Brennan Cox will recover from an ankle injury in time to take on the Eagles.

But All-Australian backman Luke Ryan is in danger of missing the match with a calf injury.

"We're pretty comfortable with the way Brennan is going. He did a bit of running yesterday, and he's tracking pretty well," Longmuir said.

"Luke got a knock to his calf in the game against North Melbourne last week that hindered him a bit at training on Tuesday, and yesterday it flared up a little bit and he didn't get through.

"We'll give him a good fitness test tomorrow, and if he passes that we'll play him. If he doesn't, we won't take any risks."

West Coast also have injury concerns in defence.

Four-time All-Australian Jeremy McGovern will miss at least two weeks with a groin injury, and fellow key defender Tom Barrass is in doubt with a shoulder injury picked up in last week's 97-point loss to Geelong.

"We're still holding out hope. He got a knock really late in the game," Eagles coach Adam Simpson said of Barrass.

"We're leaving it to the last minute. We'll test it out tomorrow morning. We'll give him every chance to play."

If Barrass is ruled out, Simpson says he'll be tempted to swing in-form forward Oscar Allen into defence.

"Oscar Allan has played down back before, we tried that at training yesterday," Simpson said.

"Will we play a smaller backline, be as flexible as we can? We've just got to get creative."

The Eagles will be boosted by the return of spearhead Josh Kennedy and former skipper Shannon Hurn, who will set a new games record at West Coast when he lines up for match No.291.

Harry Edwards, whose debut match last year lasted less than a half before he was knocked out, will replace McGovern.

"He's 200cm. He's grown probably 10cm in a year and a half," Simpson said of the 20-year-old.

"He's competitive, we think he's as ready as he can be. We need him to stand up for us and play like he's played 50 games."

West Coast were given a boost on Thursday night when the Western Australia Government announced Optus Stadium would be allowed a capacity of 75 per cent for the derby, meaning 45,000 mostly-Eagles supporters can attend.

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