The Dockers made the decision to send Sylvia away to train with WAFL club Peel Thunder on February 5 stating the 29-year-old was "not meeting the physical requirements for AFL football".

 

Sylvia began training with Peel last Monday at the club's home ground Rushton Park in Mandurah, an hour south of Perth.

 

Rosich told AFL.com.au that Sylvia had accepted the club's decision.

 

"Colin is fully aware of why that decision has been made with his agreement and he's fully aware of what is required to get back into the main squad," Rosich said.

 

"That sits pretty comfortable with him in terms of the challenge that it is to do that. We're really positive that he's going to give himself the best chance of doing that. We haven't set any timeframes on that."

 

Sylvia will train with Peel exclusively until further notice, joining ex-AFL players Leroy Jetta (Essendon), Cruize Garlett (North Melbourne), Gerald Ugle (Greater Western Sydney) and Josh Bootsma (Carlton) in the WAFL side. 

 

Peel coach Cam Shepherd is in contact with the Fremantle football department on a regular basis due to the WAFL alignment and several Dockers development coaches are involved with Peel on match days during the WAFL season.

 

Peel plays two pre-season matches on March 7 and 14 before the regular season begins on March 28.

 

Sylvia is the third Docker in the past four seasons to be sent back to the WAFL after Michael Walters and Josh Simpson. 

 

Walters was sent away from the club in January 2012 for failing to meet minimum fitness standards and it took two months before he did a skinfolds test with the club that allowed him to return to the main group.

 

He played 14 matches in the WAFL that season before finally getting selected in the Dockers' senior side. Since then he has starred for the club and has been a shining example for the playing group.

 

Simpson was granted a leave of absence from the club last June to undertake a personal development program after several issues had occurred in the first half of the season, one of which saw him stood down from senior selection for failing to board a flight to Sydney when named as a travelling emergency in round five. 

 

He was then delisted at the end of the season having failed to meet the requirements of the program.

 

Rosich said there was no issue with the stance the football department has taken in regards to sending players away from the club when necessary.

 

"One of their core responsibilities is to make sure that the players are doing everything possible to get the best out of themselves personally and then in the team environment so the team can succeed as much as possible," Rosich said.

 

"There's all sorts of levers they pull to make sure that is taking place and one of them is that, occasionally, there might be a circumstance where a player goes and trains with the feeder club, which in our case is Peel."

 

Coach Ross Lyon said a review of the club's recruiting policy would come in the wake of Sylvia's failure to deliver and Rosich said that was not out of the ordinary.

 

"We do review our list management model, and all the processes that are associated with that, each and every year," Rosich said.

 

"We have done so for the last seven years. Our list management team is doing that at the present time.

 

"We'd always also anticipated a review of free agency in particular this year given that it's been in place for a period of time.

 

"So that is taking place. It's nothing out of the ordinary. We've been able to add via free agency and our focus has been a retention strategy in free agency as well.

 

"We'll continue to look to do those things and make sure we're doing everything possible at the football club to retain the players we desire and also bring in the players we think can add value to us.

 

"So if there are any experiences from what has taken place over the last few years we'll certainly be taking those on board in the normal course and that's what we expect again this year."