Paul injured his left knee and was stretchered from Subiaco Oval 10 minutes into the third quarter of Sunday night's NAB Cup clash against West Coast. Chasing a loose ball on Fremantle's forward flank, Paul fell awkwardly between two Eagle opponents and appeared to realise quickly he had seriously injured his knee.
Roger, who himself missed the 2005 season through injury, said the team was disappointed when they learned Paul's diagnosis.
"He's had a great pre-season. I think he has been in the best shape he has ever been," Roger said of Paul.
"It's going to be disappointing but I think he will be around the club and get back into the rehab when he is ready to go and be bigger and better for it next year.
"He is a quality player so he will be missed but that's going to give some of the younger guys the chance to prove themselves and see what they have got as well."
Roger suffered a broken leg in round 21 of 2004, also against West Coast. The road to recovery for the 27 year old was long and arduous and was soon made longer when he injured his hamstring in a WAFL match for South Fremantle soon into his return to the field. The run of injuries saw Roger miss the whole of 2005 for Fremantle as he worked on rebuilding his body for 2006. And while he alluded to the lonely nature of the rehabilitation process he had full faith in Paul's ability to get through it with the support of his team mates and Fremantle's staff.
"You have just got to get back on the bike and do the hard work," Roger said.
"It's going to be tough for him but he is the kind of person who can get through that sort of thing and with the club and the coaching staff and the boys that will get behind him and support him all the way he will get through it."
Paul's season ending injury took the gloss off what was otherwise a fantastic night for the club in its 44 point win over West Coast. Fremantle will now face Adelaide at AAMI Stadium this Sunday in the quarter finals but Roger said the club wasn't taking too much out of its victory over the Eagles into the clash with the Crows.
"It was the first game, the first real hit out," Roger said of Sunday's win.
"The boys did really well. From the team aspect we tackled hard and ran down from the forward line and centre and that pressure helped us out in the backline."
Fremantle will fly to Adelaide on Saturday, one day out from their match against the Crows. The team has flown interstate at least two days prior to interstate fixtures in recent years but with Senior Coach Mark Harvey coming on board Roger said the change to travel schedules was just one of a number of things in place in 2008 to help improve on the club's 2007 result.
"We put a pact together that we're going to do some things different this year," he said.
"We trained harder in the pre season, we had a longer pre season because we did miss September and we've come out bigger and stronger and harder."
