Fremantle Dockers coach Justin Longmuir to play it safe over Hayden Young’s hamstring injury despite progress

Fremantle are set to hold off on bringing Hayden Young back into the fold until after the club’s South Australia fixture double, with Justin Longmuir saying they would play it safe with the star left-footer.

Young is taking positive steps in his bid to return from his hamstring setback, having missed the Dockers’ past two matches.

Longmuir said the 24 year-old would be back in selection consideration within the next fortnight, but admitted Fremantle were likely to err on the side of caution given his recent injury history.

“He’s making progress, either one or two weeks away. We’re maybe leaning towards two at this stage, just to be safe, but he is progressing really well,” Longmuir said.

“He’s had so many setbacks. You actually feel for those guys who just keep on getting knocked down again but his attitude has been great. He’s been helping the players prepare each week, been sitting in the (coaches) box and giving me a bit of advice as well.”

The Dockers face Adelaide and Collingwood in successive Friday night blockbusters at Adelaide Oval before returning to Optus Stadium for a western derby date with West Coast in round six. Young snared the Glendinning-Allan Medal as best on ground in the most recent derby clash last July.

While Young spent portions of Fremantle’s Tuesday morning training session with the main group, he also worked off to the side with the rest of the team’s rehab group. At one stage, he grabbed at his hamstring but continued on with the session.

Longmuir said they were treading carefully with Young’s timeline after he battled hamstring injuries last season and required surgery for the issue last May.

With the additional spot on the interchange giving team a five-man bench to choose from, Fremantle were able to manage injury-returnees Brennan Cox and Jaeger O’Meara’s minutes against Richmond, with the duo spending a respective 68 per cent and 65 per cent time on ground in their first games of the season.

Longmuir said it could be an option for Young when he was ready for re-introduction in the match-day squad.

“We’ve seen that multiple times, not just with us, but across the course of the season for all teams. It allowed us to bring Brennan straight back, Jaeger played a little bit less game time than what he normally would on the weekend. It does help that transition,” he said.

Longmuir said while he still viewed the talismanic on-baller as an integral part of their midfield, they also had the option of a temporary role switch for Young when he was fully fit, although conceded they had not done too much planning around at this stage.

“We’re haven’t really dug deep on that, but they’re all the conversations that you have behind the scenes when someone gets injured, but especially when you get repeat injuries,” he said.

“Long-term, I don’t think it changes any roles for him, it’s probably more about the mechanics of some of those incidents more so than his role, but we’ll look at everything because we want to get him back and keep him in the team.”