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Nat Fyfe to undergo surgery on the back of AFLX appearance

Nat Fyfe will be booked in for surgery at some point before round one, Fremantle footy boss Peter Bell has confirmed.

Fyfe played in AFLX on Friday night with a sleeve and padding on his right arm – after denying he was managing an inflamed bursa in his right elbow.

“Yeah, (it’s) great. Elbow’s all good, for now,” he said on Thursday.

The lingering injury was dealt a new blow in a hard landing at training earlier in February.

The 2015 Brownlow medallist stuck it out and took part in the AFL’s exhibition competition in Melbourne last night.

But the Dockers have confirmed an operation was always a possibility and will now go ahead.

“You don’t make a decision to send someone off for surgery flippantly, but he got a knock on it a couple of weeks ago and it did swell up,” Bell said on 6PR radio on Saturday.

Nat Fyfe played in AFLX with a sleeve and protective padding on his right arm. Pic: Getty
Nat Fyfe played in AFLX with a sleeve and protective padding on his right arm. Pic: Getty

“He said it was really painful and when Nat Fyfe says something’s painful – he’s the guy that played with a broken leg for a game a few (years) ago for a quarter or so and played really well so he’s obviously got a really high pain threshold.”

Bell said the “very minor procedure” will only require a short stay in hospital, with Fyfe a chance to make a post-surgery appearance in Fremantle’s pre-season games.

While the JLT Series begins in five days with Carlton hosting Essendon, the Dockers’ first official practice match isn’t until March 4.

They will host Collingwood in Joondalup before a Mandurah meeting with West Coast six days later.

“I wouldn’t think it would be getting into the weeks, I think he would be back into full training really, really quickly,” Bell said.

“And then we’ll just manage with how he comes through that whether he’s JLT1 or JLT2 we’re confident he’ll be playing a major part in the pre-season games.”

Despite thousands of fans attending AFLX on free tickets and a mixed reception from punters at home, the game’s stars backed the format to stick around.

“I think we saw from the buy-in from the players that this concept has legs,” Fyfe said.

“It doesn’t in any way try to take away from regular footy – it’s designed to be fun and complement our game.

“I think it potentially has a future.”

READ MORE: Why footy stars want more AFLX in the future