FREMANTLE is sweating on Stephen Hill's fitness for Saturday night's clash with St Kilda after revealing the classy Docker is battling a quad complaint.
Hill came under fire for a quiet performance in Fremantle's 77-point thumping from Richmond at the MCG last Sunday.
The 28-year-old failed to have any impact, collecting just 12 disposals – his lowest tally since round one, 2016 – and didn't lay a tackle on a dirty day for Freo.
The Dockers' score of 4.9 (33) was the lowest in Ross Lyon's 269 games as a senior coach, and the result continued a poor run of form away from home.
While Hill copped criticism for not performing as a senior player, the club has since confirmed he was battling quad tightness and is under a cloud to face the Saints at Optus Stadium.
"Initial medical investigations in the past 24 hours have been very positive, so he'll be a test for this week," high performance manager Jason Weber told fremantlefc.com.au.
The Dockers are already without Hill's younger brother Bradley and star Michael Walters, while spearhead Matt Taberner remains in a moon boot after his broken foot.
Bradley Hill is aiming to start running again within a week, having struggled to overcome bone bruising suffered in round two against Essendon.
Walters is back straight-line running after going down with a knee ligament issue in the round six Western Derby, however the club's three-time leading goalkicker is at least one or two weeks away from a comeback.
With three wins from the opening seven rounds, the 12th-placed Dockers face a tough stretch, and can ill-afford more stars spending time on the sidelines.
After the Saints, Freo takes on Sydney (away), North Melbourne (home), Collingwood (away) and Adelaide (home) in a potentially season-defining run of games.
Promisingly, emerging tall defender Griffin Logue is edging closer to a comeback from a congenital foot problem within two weeks.
Meanwhile, controversial star Harley Bennell got through his first game for the year unscathed after his mid-February setback with his troublesome calves.
Bennell had nine disposals for Peel, with three inside 50s and kicked 0.1 playing limited game time.
It is expected the 25-year-old will need at least another two matches at WAFL level before being considered for senior selection.
"Harley's pulled up really well," Weber said.
"He was a little bit conservative early in the game, but he got moving.
"Everything's progressing to plan at this stage, and we'll see him at training later this week with our WAFL boys during the State (Game against South Australia) bye weekend."
Bullocking ruckman Sean Darcy (PCL) and promising key forward Hugh Dixon (ankle) both started running again on Tuesday after lengthy injury setbacks, however the young pair face at least another month on the sidelines.
