Fremantle Dockers trio ruled out of pre-season clash with injury, hit by West Coast Eagles’ home ground curse

Fremantle have fallen victim to the curse of Mineral Resources Park, with Luke Jackson, Michael Frederick and Nathan O’Driscoll all casualties of Saturday’s scratch derby victory over West Coast. The key trio will be missing from the Dockers’ line-up for Friday’s final full-scale scratch match of the pre-season against Port Adelaide at Alberton Oval. Jackson has been ruled out with delayed concussive symptoms, Frederick picked up a slight hamstring, while O’Driscoll has inflammation of the knee in 48 hours of carnage after the derby at West Coast’s home ground. The rebuilding Eagles have been weighed down by a long injury for the past two seasons and are already reeling with heavy pre-season casualties suffered at their home base, with ruck recruit Matt Flynn sidelined for 10-12 weeks with hamstring tendon damage. Jackson’s setback came after an accidental head clash with tough young Eagle Reuben Ginbey who is also out of this weekend’s practice match against the Adelaide Crows under concussion protocols. Jackson and Frederick are expected to be available for the round one clash with Brisbane at Optus Stadium in mid-March. The Dockers had a relatively injury free pre-season, apart from a serious hamstring injury to defender Heath Chapman, before Saturday’s game at Eagles’ HQ. “Luke was assessed on-field following an incident with Reuben Ginbey. At the time of the assessment, he was passed fit to play,” Fremantle head of football Joe Brierty said. “Luke was fine on Saturday night and Sunday but experienced a delayed onset headache on Monday afternoon that worsened as the day went on. “He has been placed into the concussion protocols and is progressing well.” Scans have cleared Frederick of any serious damage. O’Driscoll’s injury comes at a time when there is a logjam of players pushing for a spot on a wing. “Nathan has pulled up sore from the weekend with a significant amount of inflammation and swelling over his knee,” Brierty said. “There is no significant structural damage to the knee joint, but we will wait for the inflammation to subside, and he will be transitioned back into football. “At this point, we have no clear timeline on his return to play, although we are hopeful it will be short-term.” Fellow defender Heath Chapman will head overseas this week in his quest to return to full fitness following a hamstring strain earlier this month. The 26-gamer will undergo a five-day stint at Qatar’s Aspetar Sports Medical Clinic. The Dockers cleared forwards Jye Amiss (ankle) and Michael Walters (knee) of any serious damage coming out of the Eagles’ match. Amiss landed awkwardly on his ankle during a third-quarter onslaught in which he kicked three goals before being subbed out and completing run-throughs on the sidelines. Walters took part in full training on Tuesday, including match simulation, but Amiss was restricted to light duties. He left the training track after a discussion with medicos before reappearing with his right quadricep heavily bandaged. Meanwhile, defender Brennan Cox took a positive step forward in a return from injury, joining main training for the first time on Tuesday after a month off. Cox was ordered to rest after scans revealed a stress fracture in his fibula in late January and has been restricted to low impact aerobic work on an Alter-G treadmill. He emerged on the track last week but only for a brief kick to kick before Tuesday’s encouraging appearance. Cox looked comfortable joining teammates in running and skill work at Cockburn before stepping out of match simulation. The Dockers rate him a chance for a round one berth, but that is only 19 days away. Recruit Oscar McDonald took Cox’s place deep in defence in Saturday’s scratch match against West Coast and in the probables team in match sim on Tuesday.