INJURY-CURSED Docker Anthony Morabito will need to put together an extended period of games at WAFL level before he is ready to play for Fremantle again.
 
Morabito, 24, has been named for his fourth WAFL game of the season, and only his third in a row, on Saturday when Peel Thunder play West Perth at HBF Arena in Joondalup.
 
He has made great progress this year after failing to play a single game last season due to ongoing soreness in his left knee, which has been reconstructed three times.
 
But Fremantle coach Ross Lyon said he wanted to avoid the hype that surrounded Morabito's comeback in 2014 by giving him time to rebuild his confidence at WAFL level.
 
"When he first came back the other year, the hype, and people have an opinion, that's all OK, but you've got to do the best thing by the player," Lyon said on Thursday.
 
"He's had his best summer. But you've got to set them up to succeed, not fail. If we threw him in now, it wouldn't be fair to him, and it wouldn't be appropriate."
 
Morabito played 19 games in 2014, including three for Fremantle, after making a miraculous return from three ACL surgeries in the previous three years.
 
Fremantle key position prospect Michael Apeness will play his first game of the season on Saturday in the WAFL reserves after overcoming his own long-term knee issue.
 
Apeness, the Dockers' first-round draft pick in 2013, injured his posterior cruciate ligament playing in the WAFL in May last year.
 
He was ruled out for the remainder of the year following surgery to repair the torn ligament.
 
Apeness has been building slowly into main training over the last month and will play his first game in Peel Thunder's reserves team on Saturday.
 
Lyon said the Dockers will be patient but they would hope to give him an opportunity at AFL level at some point this season.
 
"When you have a PCL reconstruction, it's a significant injury," Lyon said.  
 
"Michael Gardiner had one at West Coast and it took him a few years until he got to the Saints to get on top of that.
 
"He'll take some time. He's a really diligent kid. He's a valuable resource for us. If he can get going and play a good month of football, we'd really like to expose him and bring him on."
 
Apeness, a 200cm key forward, played two games for Fremantle in 2014. He kicked 20 goals and averaged five marks in 19 games at WAFL level since arriving at the club from the Eastern Ranges.