Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir is eager to see Nat Fyfe in the senior side once again, but admitted the club will be taking extra precautions after post-game scenes in the WAFL saw the two-time Brownlow medallist swamped with fans.
Fyfe, who hasn't played a game for Fremantle since Round 19 last year, had a solid day out for Peel Thunder, finishing the afternoon with 25 possessions and six clearances, leaving the door open for a potential return to senior footy.
Speaking after Fremantle's impressive 14-point win over Brisbane, Longmuir said that he was glad to see Fyfe back on the field but felt the scenes after the siren, which saw Fyfe mobbed by fans while signing autographs and posing for photos, was a "fiasco".ย
โIt was good to see him back,โ Longmuir told media.
โHe was a little bit rusty. He got better as the game went on. Exactly how he thought heโd perform, and as coaches how we thought heโd perform.
โAnd he bridged the gap.
โIt was a bit of a fiasco yesterday. We would have loved to have taken him off with a couple of minutes to go and just ushered him down to the change rooms, so he didnโt have to deal with that.
โBut the game was on the line, and the competitive beast he is, he wanted to be out there and wanted to help Peel win.
โIt is what it is. It was great for WA footy I thought.
Everyone wants a bit of Nat Fyfe after the final siren of his return match as Peel Thunder snatch a six-point win over the Subiaco Lions in the @WAFLOfficial ๐
Fyfe got through unscathed with 24 touches, 5 marks and 4 tackles โ pic.twitter.com/5ZOV59hiMS
— AFL (@AFL) June 4, 2022
"We've got (Monday) off. If we can get to Tuesday ... he's good with his mask-wearing, and we'll segregate him from the group a little bit.
"We've got a six-day break, so we can't take too long, We'll just try and work around a few different things."
Fremantle already segregated their AFL-listed WAFL players in the early stages of the week to reduce the risk of a COVID outbreak occurring in the senior squad, with Fyfe now set to take extra precautions in the lead up to Round 13.
Coming off the back of two wins against top contenders Melbourne and Brisbane, Fremantle will host Hawthorn at home on Saturday afternoon, with their captain likely to play his first senior game for 2022.
