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Lyon backs Mundy to soldier on

UPDATE: Fremantle coach Ross Lyon has backed gun midfielder David Mundy to face North Melbourne at Domain Stadium tomorrow night, despite dealing with a nasty head gash sustained in last Sunday’s win over the Western Bulldogs.

Mundy left Etihad Stadium with blood gushing from his head after colliding with Brett Goodes in the third quarter.

The 29-year-old is understood to have required extensive stitching to seal the wound. He bravely returned to help his side hold off the fast-finishing Bulldogs. Mundy finished with 20 disposals and eight inside 50s as the Dockers improved to 7-0 and preserved their two-win buffer at the top of the ladder.

Mundy’s head was heavily bandaged at training yesterday but he was named in the Dockers’ 22.

Lyon said the club would monitor the injury. He doubted it would stop Mundy from playing.

“It was a big head clash, but to borrow the phrase of the immortal John Kennedy, injuries above the shoulders don’t count,” Lyon said.

“Cuts don’t worry him too much. We’ll always have a bit of TLC wrapped around them, but they’re excited to be playing at the minute and pretty keen to keep their spot. We’ll make an informed decision, but we’re certainly planning for him to play.”

The Dockers made just one change to the side which beat the Bulldogs, with Luke McPharlin returning after missing two games with calf soreness.

Alex Pearce, who has back bruising, makes way.

Lyon said McPharlin trained during the week and was confident he had avoided another serious soft-tissue injury.

“Yeah, really confident he’ll play,” he said. “We were confident last week, I know it sounds a bit silly, but more so this week.”

The news was not so good for North Melbourne, who could not consider captain Andrew Swallow (hand) and forward Ben Brown (knee).

They were replaced by Mason Wood and Trent Dumont.

The Kangaroos recorded a shock 13-point victory over Fremantle in Perth last season, becoming one of only three sides to defeat Lyon’s men on their home turf since the start of 2013.

However, the manner in which the Dockers have started this season, coupled with the Kangaroos’ extensive injury list, suggests Brad Scott’s side has its work cut out to repeat its 2014 win.

Lyon said he didn’t intend to use last year’s loss as motivation but wouldn’t disregard the lessons from the game.

“We know they’re a top-four team from last year,” he said.

“We know they had some early challenges, but have regrouped really well and their best is very, very good.

“They beat us here last year, they’ve got really good depth, they’ve got a super list, they’ve got some evergreens running around like (Brent) Harvey.

“Obviously we feel confident in our football at the moment because we’ve been able to
deliver consistently and what we’re doing stands up.

“So that does give us a degree of confidence, but we need to make sure it all occurs again.”