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Knee soreness stalls Morabito

Anthony Morabito’s brave bid to continue his AFL comeback faces a critical two months as the 23-year-old battles ongoing knee soreness that has limited his ability to train in the lead-up to the 2015 season.

And Fremantle have ruled out a shock round-one return for tagger Ryan Crowley, who is facing an anti-doping tribunal hearing on May 1.

The Dockers have set no time frame for a return to the field for Morabito, whose comeback to AFL ranks against Melbourne in round 16 last year was one of the feelgood stories of 2014.

Morabito played his first full season since 2010, mainly in the WAFL for Peel but including three AFL games, but had his season ended by a cartilage injury picked up in a late-season training mishap.

He has had two lots of surgery on his left knee since then — first to deal with the initial cartilage problem, then a clean-up operation when he felt lingering soreness in January.

He has rarely been seen on the training track in recent weeks as the soreness continues.

Fremantle football manager Chris Bond said the club would continue to support Morabito but confirmed there had been some lingering issues from his last bout of knee surgery.

“Our main thing is for him to get some continuity in his training and his playing for Peel,” Bond said.

“The meniscus operation — there have been some hiccups with that along the way.

“There is not a timeline for him, we are not going to put that pressure on him and he doesn’t have to put it on himself. He has just got to get to a stage where he can do the work and play.

“It was a significant enough injury on the meniscus for it to be an interrupted pre-season. It was always going to be an interrupted pre-season and there has been a bit of soreness and a bit of swelling from it and we are just making sure we are precautionary on that and that we allow it time to settle so he can train and play fully.

“We haven’t lost hope. We will keep working with him.

“He has shown great character and courage. Ross Lyon has been a fantastic support to him and will continue to be.”

There was speculation this week that because Crowley had tested positive to a “specified” substance under AFL rules, he could withdraw from his voluntary suspension and be allowed to play until his hearing.

Specified substances are only banned if found in a player’s system on match days. The Dockers have matches against Port Adelaide, Geelong, West Coast and Sydney before Crowley’s tribunal hearing.

But Dockers chief executive Steve Rosich said an appearance for Crowley had not been considered.

“We haven’t considered the club’s position on that and we will not be prior to round one,” he said.