Alex Pearce hasn’t played for Fremantle since 2019, but the dominant defender’s return for the club after a brutal ankle break may be out of position.

Pearce has managed just 53 games in seven seasons at Freo but at his best is considered one of the better tall defenders in the AFL, however a surplus of backmen, a suspension and multiple injuries could see a move forward against Melbourne on Saturday.

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On this week’s episode of The Duff and Quarters Podcast, The West Australian’s chief footy writer Mark Duffield believes Dockers coach Justin Longmuir may have to roll the dice with either Pearce or ruckman Sean Darcy (if available) to fill their limited goal kicking stocks in purple.

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Rory Lobb (knee) and Josh Treacy (suspension) are ruled out for round one while star Matt Taberner is in doubt (back), forcing one of their tall defenders or preferred ruck option Darcy, who is also pushing for fitness after his own knee injury, forward.

Darcy, Taberner and Pearce were all part of the 25-man squad that departed Perth this afternoon.

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“You do have to have a tall target of some description down there and if it’s not Matt Taberner then maybe Alex Pearce goes forward,” Duffield said.

“He’s sort of shown his hand a little bit by throwing Pearce forward at training yesterday (Wednesday) so maybe that’s the way they will go but even he had some hamstring tightness in the session,” Journalist Jordan McArdle replied.

“Think anyone over 190 cm is feeling sore right now at Freo, so it’s a bizarre situation to head into round one.”

On the other end, Fremantle have a wealth of tall options in defence like All-Australian Luke Ryan, Brennan Cox, Joel Hamling and Griffin Logue.

The Dockers take on Melbourne at 10:45 AM WST at the MCG on Saturday morning.