Fremantle Dockers: Alex Pearce and Jaeger O’Meara face fitness tests ahead of potential returns against Sydney

Fremantle will make a call on a potential return for Alex Pearce later in the week, with the Dockers skipper in the frame to play his first game in more than a month in Sunday’s road clash against Sydney.

But fellow veteran Michael Walters’ immediate future remains unclear, with a knee issue continuing to trouble the 34-year-old.

Pearce has missed the past four matches of Freo’s six-game winning streak due to a stress fracture in his shin, but is closing in on a return.

Dockers high performance manager Phil Merriman said Pearce, midfielder Jaeger O’Meara and forward Sam Sturt - who has not featured at AFL level this year - would all face fitness tests.

“They need to get through this week of training and will be a test to play,” Dockers high performance manager Phil Merriman said.

O’Meara was held out of footy action last weekend after experiencing hamstring tightness.

Walters is yet to play an AFL game this year in what could be his final season, and remains without an estimated return date as he works to overcome what the Dockers termed “ongoing knee soreness”.

“It’s really a week-to-week proposition with Sonny, and we just have to track that and see how he goes this week at training to determine his availability,” Merriman said.

The Dockers on Monday confirmed two-time Brownlow medallist Nat Fyfe would miss up to four weeks with a moderate-grade calf strain suffered during his half-time warm-up against St Kilda last weekend, rendering him unable to take to the field as Freo’s substitute.

In brighter news, gun midfielder Hayden Young appears set for a return later this month - and possibly as early as the round 19 blockbuster bout with ladder-leading Collingwood at the MCG - after being listed as two-to-three weeks away from completing his hamstring surgery rehab.