Fremantle Dockers star Michael Walters to be the sub against Melbourne Demons as limited game time continues

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Fremantle Dockers star Michael Walters to be the sub against Melbourne Demons as limited game time continues

Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir has backed veteran Michael Walters to handle being the sub for the third successive week while admitting the match committee is facing a big decision on his role in the team in the coming weeks.

Walters’ last full game was against Melbourne in Alice Springs on June 2. Fremantle had a bye the following week, he injured his hamstring after playing for 32 minutes in round 14 then resumed as the sub against Richmond in round 17 where he played for 48 minutes.

Walters spent only 24 minutes on the field against Hawthorn after coming on as the sub last week, giving him only 104 minutes of footy in the last six weeks.

Camera IconMichael Walters in action. Credit: Paul Kane/Getty Images

With Peel having the bye this week, Longmuir didn’t have the option of giving him a full game in the WAFL. He said Walters had the experience and talent to play well as the sub.

“We think Sonny gives us the best opportunity to win this game as a sub,” Longmuir explained.

“When he’s been sub, maybe last week excluded, he’s had an impact as the sub for us. You want to be able to bring someone on who can have an impact and preferably have an impact in your front half. I think he does a good job at that. My message to him was next week is next week. Let’s focus on now. A lot can change in a week.”

Competition for positions in Fremantle’s team is fierce. Captain Alex Pearce’s return from injury this week has cost Josh Draper his spot. Sean Darcy will also play but the Dockers are yet to name their final team to confirm other omissions.

Fremantle have only four players on the injury list and Longmuir said he had a wealth of options to pick from every week.

“There will be 10 guys that miss out this week that could easily come in and fill a role and we’d be really comfortable about having in the team,” he said.

data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==Camera IconAlex Pearce will return from an arm injury Credit: Danella Bevis/The West ***********

“Drapes misses out this week and he’s in really good form. The message to him was to stay ready. He’s shown he can play really good footy at AFL level and he’s squeezed out by the captain. He’s just got to be ready for his next opportunity.

“The medical staff and our high performance team have put a really good program in place to be able to build resilience in our players’ bodies. They train a lot. They train hard and the guys that get through all that become really resilient. We’ve put a good program into place to be able to rehab players and make sure we don’t get a recurrence of injuries as well which is a critical factor.”

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