FREMANTLE coach Justin Longmuir expects Nat Fyfe’s season is over after the superstar midfielder dislocated his right shoulder in a second consecutive match, while Michael Walters could also be sidelined for the rest of the year.
Fyfe was selected for the clash with Sydney despite again dislocating his shoulder against Geelong last week and showed few signs of discomfort early on as he gathered 15 disposals.
But when Swans small forward Sam Wicks went to kick the ball off the ground and caught Fyfe on the lower right arm, the Dockers’ skipper immediately grabbed at his troublesome right shoulder and soon had to be helped from the field just before half-time.
>> WATCH THE INCIDENT IN THE PLAYER ABOVE
Fyfe was subbed out of the match during the main break but the Dockers were hit by further injury soon after when Walters grabbed at his hamstring high up on his leg and spent the remainder of the match with ice wrapped around it.
"For it to happen just before half-time wasn't ideal. That shoulder looks like it's the same injury as he's had this year and been playing with," Longmuir said about Fyfe’s injury.
"We'll have to look at what we do now. The likelihood is he'll probably have to go in for surgery, I'd imagine, now he's had a re-injury on it. So his season might be done.
"'Sonny' (Walters) has got a hammy, so we'll get it scanned. We're getting close to the end of the year now, so he's going to be cutting it fine to get back this year."
The Dockers have been decimated by injuries throughout much of this season and went into the match against the Swans with several players under injury clouds.
As well as Fyfe, the Dockers also selected Sean Darcy who was restricted by a sore knee against the Cats and Matt Taberner who had only played one match since round 10 due to ankle and calf injuries.
Darcy played against the Swans with his left leg heavily strapped but was still able to provide a target in the Dockers’ forward line and had a good battle with Tom Hickey in the ruck.
SWANS v DOCKERS Full match coverage and stats
"We've got injuries to certain areas of the ground and not a lot of depth in certain roles," Longmuir said.
"I thought Sean competed pretty well, he must've had five or six shots on goal, he just didn't finish his work off down forward. I thought he competed pretty hard in the ruck, so I was happy with that risk.
"As far as 'Fyfey' goes, he's played with his shoulder in a very similar situation before, a couple of years ago, and has got through. Unfortunately, he didn't get through today. We don't feel like he's done any more damage to it but we need to get it fixed."
The Swans got through the match without any injury concerns but will be sweating on the Match Review Officer’s verdict on a clash involving Lance Franklin and Luke Ryan in the second term.
After Ryan tackled Franklin and the ball over the boundary line a frustrated Franklin threw an elbow backwards, hitting Ryan under the chin and stunning the Dockers’ defender.
The umpire awarded a free kick to Ryan and he was able to play out the match, but Longmuir said after the match that his defender "has got a sore jaw".
Swans coach John Longmire was seen talking to Franklin on the interchange bench minutes later but said that wasn’t related to the incident involving Ryan.
"I had limited vision from where I was sitting on the bench. I saw the marking contest but I didn't see anything else other than that," Longmire said.
"I was just talking to [Franklin] about the course of the game, just making sure we keep the ball in our front half.
"I talk to the players a lot so I can't remember what that specific conversation was about other than us just wanting to keep the ball in the front half."
