FREMANTLE'S 2011 injury crisis has taken another dramatic turn, with seven players from last Saturday night's 98-point loss to North Melbourne ruled out for Friday night's match against ladder leader Collingwood at Patersons Stadium.
Captain Matthew Pavlich (calf), David Mundy (ankle), Hayden Ballantyne (hamstring) and Adam McPhee (foot) are unlikely to play again this season, coach Mark Harvey said.
Alex Silvagni, who is experiencing headaches after a series of knocks against the Kangaroos, Greg Broughton (ribs) and possibly Antoni Grover have been ruled out this week, leaving Fremantle with 25 fit players to choose from.
The coach said ruckman Aaron Sandilands, who has battled a serious toe injury this season, and midfielder Michael Barlow, who has successfully returned from a broken leg, would play on Friday night.
Harvey brought his weekly press conference forward two days to reveal the crippling extent of Fremantle's injury crisis and he said that none of the seven omitted players would have been available this week if the club was still a realistic chance to play finals.
"We've taken some calculated risks basically all year with some long-term injuries and to try to get our A-grade players back and playing in a team that was pretty competitive for the first 16, 17 rounds," the coach said from Fremantle Oval. "Unfortunately it's taken its toll."
Harvey said Mundy, who returned from an eight-week high ankle injury against the Kangaroos, had pulled up sore and the club was assessing whether Broughton had broken ribs.
The coach said Grover, who played his 200th game against North Melbourne, would need to be assessed after a "big year" and was unlikely to face the Pies.
Harvey said after introducing the substitute rule this season to restrict rising interchange rotations, the AFL needed to investigate the health of its players, potentially making changes to the length of club lists.
"My understanding is a lot of clubs are going through this and Collingwood in fact is one of them that's said that regularly over the last four or five weeks," he said.
"When clubs say that without going into specifics like we have here - which I think is good for everyone - something needs to be discussed about the length of lists and rotations.
"I think you've heard a lot of coaches say they'd like to free up a lot of things from a rotation point of view."
With a short turnaround ahead of Friday night's game, Fremantle held a number of players out of the WAFL at the weekend, with only five players - Justin Bollenhagen, Joel Houghton, Hamish Shepheard, Casey Sibosado and Michael Walters - involved.
Players available to come into the senior team this week include Kepler Bradley, Paul Duffield, Jon Griffin, Nick Lower, Clancee Pearce, Byron Schammer, Ben Bucovaz and Peter Faulks.
Harvey conceded that the North Melbourne game was probably Fremantle's last roll of the dice this season and the club would have the opportunity to assess its fringe players at AFL level.
The coach defended Fremantle's repeated strategy of bringing players back into the senior team after injury as quickly as possible this season but said the club would review its training methods.
He said to put Fremantle's failed finals bid down to injuries alone would be naïve.
"It's been difficult, but we need to make sure that the players, whatever team they play, that we can be a lot more accountable for the result," Harvey said.
"We'll have a look at where we train, how long we train, but I think the important part for us at the moment is to make sure these guys fully overcome their injuries so they don't have any issues moving forward.
"Then it's what type of pre-season those guys will need."
Nathan Schmook covers Fremantle news for afl.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_NSchmook
