Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir has been ruled out of Sunday's western derby against the Eagles after being deemed as a close contact to a COVID-19 positive case.
Longmuir will be required to undergo the AFL's health and safety protocols and will be unable to attend to his duties for the next seven days.
Assistant Jaymie Graham will step in as senior coach for the Round 3 clash, leading the Dockers against the club he ventured from in the off-season.
Fremantle football boss Peter Bell said the club has given Longmuir extended support while expressing high levels of confidence in Graham and the remainder of the club's coaching cohort.
โOur first priority at this stage is the health and well-being of Justin and his family,โ Bell said in a club statement.
โWe will provide all the necessary support that Justin and his family require.
โWe have an enormous amount of faith in what is an extremely capable coaching group and while itโs not ideal that Justin will be dialling in remotely, we know Jaymie and the rest of our Coaching team will do a great job."
Fremantle has also confirmed that no other player or staff member has tested positive for the virus after all club personnel were required to undergo rapid antigen testing on Thursday.
โWe have been hyper-vigilant in our endeavours to mitigate the risk COVID poses to the daily operations of the Club and we will continue to do so," Bell said.
โIt is a further reminder just how prevalent COVID is in the community.โ
The Dockers are set to meet with West Coast at Optus Stadium on Sunday at 6:20pm AEDT.
