GUN FREMANTLE midfielder Nat Fyfe looks set to feature in the Dockers' first NAB Challenge match on Thursday week after making good progress from a hamstring strain.
Fyfe, 23, suffered the minor injury just over a week ago, at the end of a tough two-and-a-half hour session.
He didn't take part in Fremantle's intra-club on Saturday but completed a running session beforehand and now looks set to face Melbourne on March 5.
"He's travelling well, we have a number of players who trained prior to the game today and Nat's tracking well," senior development and assistant coach Simon Lloyd said on Saturday evening.
"He'll be right to go come NAB one, hopefully."
Captain Matthew Pavlich, tagger Ryan Crowley and utility Tendai Mzungu all didn't play in the scratch match.
Michael Johnson moved well in the half he played, which Lloyd said was encouraging. The defender had back surgery late last season, resulting him missing Freo’s finals campaign.
"It's great to see him out there," he said.
"It was a significant injury and he's just worked very, very diligently with our medical team and he is very important to us.
"We obviously didn't have him towards the end of the season for big games, so we've got to be very careful through the process but he's doing all the work and is feeling good."
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Luckless midfielder Anthony Morabito wasn't on the track on Saturday and Lloyd said a decision was yet to be made on whether he would feature in the NAB Challenge.
"He's steadily going through the program and is tracking along fine," he said.
"We'll wait on the medicos for that, it's step by step for Anthony and we'll be guided by our medical department."
Morabito had a minor operation on his left knee, which has been reconstructed three times, in late January.
Meanwhile, a tall forward line built around Aaron Sandilands and four goals from Hayden Crozier were highlights of the intra-club.
The Dockers experimented with a tall forward structure that featured Sandilands, the four-time All Australian ruckman, playing exclusively out of the goalsquare.
Sandilands, Zac Clarke, Michael Apeness and Matt Taberner featured in attack while Crozier, who lined up on a wing, carried on from a strong pre-season to feature as a goalkicker.
Sandilands told the club's website afterwards the fourth-year left-footer was one of a few younger players who had taken considerable steps over summer and benefitted from a bigger work load that included Saturday training sessions.
"I don’t think he's missed too many sessions throughout pre-season," Sandilands said.
"He's absorbing as much information as he can and trying to improve himself every time he steps out on the training track, and I think you can see that in the way he's playing his footy."
Along with a host of emerging Dockers, the 21-year-old is expected to continue to put pressure on the regular players for AFL opportunities this season.
"Between Crozier, Sheridan, Lachie Neale and Cam Sutcliffe, they're all going into their fourth year now and Crozier is one that has really worked hard," Lloyd said.
"You saw today at times he broke really hard and ended up kicking four goals."
Hayden Crozier's hard work over the summer appears to be paying off. Picture: AFL Media
Midfielder Tom Sheridan kicked one goal while Chris Mayne lined up in defence and played on Taberner – who took some strong one-on-one marks - before swapping teams and moving into attack in the last quarter.
Lloyd said Mayne was "learning the ropes" of playing in defence and would spend time at both ends of the ground this year.
Clarke also took strong marks in the air while Nick Suban was another who looks to have benefitted from a strong summer with his work in the midfield.
It was a one-sided contest between the "purple" team, made up of the experienced Dockers, and the "white" team that comprised of young players and some from Peel Thunder.
The scoreboard saw purple win 16.9 (105) to 0.4 (4).
Nat Fyfe is a $579,000 midfielder in NAB AFL Fantasy this year. Create and fill your AFL Fantasy Classic league by March 2 to win a free AFL Live pass.
