Fremantle need to manage midfield star Hayden Young’s travel load down the stretch of the home-and-away season with a view to have him ready for the pointy end of September, according to AFL analyst David King.
After the former North Melbourne great walked back his opinion Young should play at half-back following his match-winning performance against Western Bulldogs, King said Fremantle needed to prioritise the 25 year-old’s health ahead of finals and a potential grand final berth.
And for King, that means restricting the amount of away games Young plays after injury has limited him to just 13 games from a possible 32 across the past two seasons.
Fremantle have four matches outside of WA over their next 10 games: Essendon at the MCG on May 17, Brisbane at the Gabba on May 30, GWS in Western Sydney on July 3 and Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval on July 17.
King said the Dockers should consider not including Young on some of those trips given his injury history.
“Last year, he missed three, played four, missed nine, played three, missed two, played two. We’ve seen already this year, he’s played one, missed four, played three,” King said on Fox Footy’s First Crack.
“For me, he’s a no-fly man. There are some road trips up and coming, I wouldn’t be bringing him to the MCG to take on the Bombers.
“This is your point of difference on grand final day. You’ve got to get him there grand final day. If he’s missing another block of footy, I fear for his body and it lets him down regularly.
“This is their number one priority for me. I wouldn’t be bringing him to the ‘G’, I’d be 50-50 for the GABBA, it’s sometimes good to hold something up your sleeve. Canberra, no way, he’s not going to Canberra. I’m not putting him on any long flights.”
King said he would happily eat crow on his previous comments that Young should spend some time at half-back after he kicked three goals from 20 touches against the Bulldogs and took over the game in the third term to steer a Fremantle comeback which secured a seventh-straight win.
“I said two weeks ago i wanted to see him at half-back and I’m taking that back — I was wrong with that,” King said.
However, King said Young’s forward nous inside 50 also stood out and pondered whether that could be an option for the Dockers moving forward.
“When the game was screaming out for something from a Fremantle point of view, he was there. But it was when he went deep forward that he really challenged the game.
“We’ve seen him do this before but not to this level, we’ve seen fits and starts. If you see him in the forward line, you’ve got to get this match-up 100 per cent correct. It probably requires a key (back), he’s a bigger frame.”
