Jye Amiss and Neil Erasmus have spent the past few days together pondering their AFL futures apart. But the Perth pair’s party will continue after joining Fremantle.
’s return to Cockburn looks to have hit another snag after the big man limped from training on Monday morning.
After his attempted trade back to Greater Western Sydney over the off-season failed, Lobb returned to training in excellent shape and was one of several strong performers in last week’s time trials.
But what appeared to be a back ailment forced the 28-year-old from the track early.
Lobb spent some time chatting to medical staff before attempting to jog a lap of the oval, stopping after a quarter to walk and eventually returning to the sidelines after the pain failed to subside.
A dismayed Lobb limped back towards the club and gestured to his back but was redirected to a cross-trainer where he continued to train in less distress.
Erasmus excites
The biggest knock on Subiaco product Neil Erasmus heading into the draft was his disposal by foot.
But if two weeks can make a difference, it’s tantalizing to think what the bullish midfielder/forward can start producing in the early stages of his Dockers career.
While it wasn’t exactly a game-like scenario, the 18-year-old hit several bullet-like passes by foot and was also eager to involve himself in every chain of possession.
He provided spark and linked up several times with fellow emerging midfielder Caleb Serong
PLAYERCARDSTART
3
Caleb Serong
Age
23
Ht
180cm
Wt
87kg
Pos.
Mid
Career
Season
Last 5
D
13.0
3star
K
7.0
3star
HB
6.0
4star
M
1.8
2star
T
3.6
5star
CL
2.6
4star
D
13.0
3star
K
7.0
3star
HB
6.0
3star
M
1.8
2star
T
3.6
4star
CL
2.6
4star
D
13.0
4star
K
7.0
3star
HB
6.0
4star
M
1.8
2star
T
3.6
5star
CL
2.6
5star
PLAYERCARDEND
.
Erasmus looks the most likely of Fremantle’s 2021 draft class to debut at this stage and topped off a promising session with a casual 45m drop-punt goal from right on the boundary.
Rehab ward
Fremantle captain Nat Fyfe looks to have stepped up his running program days after declaring himself an almost certain round one starter.
The Dockers are due to face the Crows at Adelaide Oval on March 20 and will likely do so with the two-time Brownlow medallist at their disposal after Fyfe revealed he was recovering as anticipated, if not better, from his most recent shoulder reconstruction.
The 30-year-old started off running the length of Victor George Kailis Oval before progressing to full laps, barely breaking stride.
Understandably, Fyfe continues to take a conservative approach with his right shoulder and stuck to marking one-handed but progress on that front appears imminent.
After playing the majority of his 20-game career as a small forward, Liam Henry spent some time on the wing late last season. But could the shift become permanent?
says the Dockers won’t rush prized draft recruit Jye Amiss into full training, saying the club will “have to be a little bit more patient” with the young key forward ahead of his first season in purple.
Amiss was taken with pick 8, Freo’s first selection in the 2021 draft, and was quickly touted as the solution to the Dockers’ goal-kicking woes.
The East Perth sharpshooter was deadly accurate in the WAFL colts this season, leading the competition’s goal-kicking with a deadly accurate 51.15.
The 196cm key forward impressed in the national under 19s tournament for WA before a minor knee injury in the grand final curtain raiser at Optus Stadium in September ended his season prematurely.
Longmuir said the injury had prompted the Dockers to be “a little bit cautious” with Amiss during the early stages of the Dockers’ pre-season.
“He’ll start building into full training after the Christmas break,” Longmuir told SportFM on Thursday. “We might just have to be a little bit more patient with him, even though we think we’ll get him into full (training) loads reasonably quickly.”
While his fellow local recruits Neil Erasmus (pick 10), Matt Johnson (21) and Roy Benning (51) have been able to get stuck in, Amiss says he’s eyeing a return to full fitness post-holidays.
“It was pretty hectic at the start getting to know the players and the staff,” Amiss told the South Western Times. “The training is at a high standard . . . but I’m finding my feet now and starting to get used to it.
“I was in re-conditioning for the first two weeks and then each day last week was just adding in bits of training from the sessions and the start of this week I have trained every session bar one drill.
“The knee is really fine and the body is feeling great — when I come back from Christmas I’ll be 100 per cent.”
Longmuir said big-bodied players generally take longer to develop but Amiss’ game-style could put him in contention for an earlier than usual senior debut.
“Taller players can take a little bit longer to build their bodies physically to be able to mix it with some of the key defenders in the comp,” he said.
“I think the thing on Jye’s side is that he doesn’t rely on one aspect of his game to kick goals. “He can take big contested marks, mark on the lead and also crumb and kick ground-level goals, so that’ll hold him in good stead in his development.”
The Dockers 2022 campaign kicks off against the Crows at Adelaide Oval on March 20.
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