FREMANTLE star Hayden Young will miss up to three months after suffering a repeat hamstring injury and undergoing surgery on Tuesday morning.
Young injured his right hamstring for the third time this year during the Dockers’ loss to St Kilda last Friday night in a significant blow to the Dockers’ engine room ahead of a crunch Thursday night game against Collingwood.
“It’s so disappointing for ‘Youngy’, who’s reaggravated an old hamstring injury,” Fremantle high performance manager Phil Merriman said.
“He’s actually gone in for surgery, and even though it’s not in the traditional spot of the normal hamstring bicep femoris injury he will be around about the 10 to 12 weeks mark.”
Young initially suffered a low-grade hamstring strain in early February, with scans revealing he had suffered a repeat injury during training later that month, sidelining the 23-year-old for the first four rounds of the season.
His importance to the team was on show against Adelaide in round seven, winning 10 disposals, three clearances and kicking a goal in a blistering first quarter that set up the Dockers’ win.
Young’s absence comes as the Dockers try to arrest a recent drop off in their midfield performance after losing the clearances 50-22 against the Saints, with the team not matching the brilliant standard set in 2024 when it led the AFL for clearance differential.
“He turned the corner quite quickly this week,” Merriman said of O’Driscoll, who stepped up in Young’s absence early in the season.
“He’s got a couple more hurdles to jump over before we declare his availability, but it is looking promising.”
The Dockers could also look to the WAFL to replace Young, with Neil Erasmus and Will Brodie both available as big-bodied midfielders who could support Caleb Serong and Andrew Brayshaw.
The Dockers also experimented with ruckman Luke Jackson as an onballer later in the St Kilda loss.
