Hayden Young: Injured Fremantle Dockers star a chance to return for crunch Friday night clash against Brisbane
Young injured his groin against Carlton on August 3 and while the Dockers were wary about putting a timeline on the severity, he struggled to run freely last week and appeared set to be sidelined for several matches.
But after sitting out the thrilling win over Port Adelaide, the highly skilled onballer will have a fitness test this week to see if he will be available to face the Lions.
'He's progressed well through the gym and has been doing some good running kilometres,' Fremantle high performance manager Phil Merriman said.
If Young plays, the Dockers will have an incredibly small injury list at the business end of the season and have their star centre square trio available for just the eighth time this season.
Young's importance to Fremantle was on show when he came on as the sub against Collingwood and helped to change the game. then he won the Glendinning-Allan Medal while playing for just three quarters against West Coast.
Matthew Johnson is also on track to return against the Western Bulldogs next week as he works to rehab his ankle.
'Johnno is going well,' Merriman said.
'He's got a few more hurdles to jump over this week.'
Once Young and Johnson return to action, Fremantle will only have Sam Sturt (knee), Aiden Riddle (foot) and Odin Jones (back) on their injury list.
The Dockers are building enviable depth after Corey Wagner returned from a heel injury in the WAFL last weekend.
He was carefully managed but still had 20 possessions and will increase his playing time against Subiaco on Saturday.
'He's pulled up really well following the game at the weekend, so the plan is for him to have a normal training week and play more minutes,' Merriman said.
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