Fremantle’s bid to match a club record nine successive victories in a season has taken a hit with midfielder Hayden Young ruled out of Sunday’s clash with Essendon with concussion.

Versatile midfielder-defender Corey Wanger (groin) will also miss the Bombers’ clash through injury.

The Dockers, who have adopted the name Walyalup for Sir Doug Nicholls round, were already without captain Alex Pearce who is expected to miss between one and three matches with a knee injury.

Young has played the past four games after missing a month with a hamstring injury and will miss after suffering delayed concussion after an incident at training on Tuesday.

He will miss both the Essendon clash and the Dockers’ round 11 clash with St Kilda at Optus Stadium as there is only a five-day turnaround.

“Unfortunately, Hayden has entered protocols with delayed concussion from an incident at training on Tuesday morning,” head of football Joe Brierty said.

“He developed symptoms on Tuesday afternoon that persisted until he returned to the Club today. This now means he will miss our next two fixtures against Essendon and Euro-Yroke (St Kilda).”

Fremantle named an extended interchange bench featuring both Oscar McDonald and Hugh Davies as possible Pearce replacements as key defenders.

Mason Cox, Neil Erasmus, Chris Scerri, Nathan O’Driscoll, Jeremy Sharp and Bailey Banfield were the six other players named among eight players on the bench.

Essendon lost midfielder Dyson Sharp and defender Zac Johnson through injury and recalled midfielders Jye Caldwell, Elijah Tsatas and Will Setterfield, small forward Jade Gresham and key back Ben McKay among eight possible interchanges.

Davies has played two AFL games, both in the second half of last season.

A product of Claremont, Davies made his debut in 2024 after being selected with pick 33 in the 2022 national draft.

“He’s been elite in the contest. He’s really hard to play against. He’s improved aspects of his game in terms of with the ball and probably trying to maximise those contests and winning more contests rather than halving them so he’s worked on that over the pre-season,” Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir said before the Dockers took part in a closed session on Thursday.

“He’s been in good form for a while. He’s physically ready. He’s done a lot of work in the gym. He’s fit, he runs well.

So he’s one of the players who will be putting their hand up.

“They’re pretty tall down there (Essendon). (Peter) Wright has played a fair bit forward and kicked a lot of goals. Caddy looks like an emerging star of the game. You throw in May and (Nick) Bryan played bit down there last week as well.

“They’ve got a pretty tall forward line.”

Oscar McDonald, like Davies, has been a consistent performer for Peel in recent weeks.

He played his last AFL game in round two against Melbourne after playing the season opener in the narrow loss to Geelong.

Lomgmuir said Pearce would be missed.

“He’s one of the better key backs in the comp and our captain, but there’s guys at Peel that have been itching for an opportunity and been in good form and ready for an opportunity for a while now,” he said.

Essendon v Walyalup Sunday, MCG, 1.10pm

BOMBERS

B: J Prior Z Reid A McGrath

HB: A Roberts M Redman J Farrow

C: X Duursma D Parish A Day-Wicks

HF: J Caldwell N Caddy S Obery

F: A May K Langford A Perkins

FOLL: E Tsatas J Gresham W Setterfield N Cox N Bryan B McKay J Nguyen L Blakiston

IN: J Caldwell E Tsatas J Gresham W Setterfield B McKay

OUT: D Sharp (injured) Z Johnson (injured)

DOCKERS

B: K Worner B Cox H Chapman

HB: J Clark L Ryan J McVee

C: M Frederick A Brayshaw M Johnson

HF: M Reid J Treacy S Switkowski

F: P Voss J Amiss I Dudley

FOLL: L Jackson S Bolton C Serong

I/C: M Cox N Erasmus O McDonald C Scerri N O’Driscoll J Sharp B Banfield H Davies

IN: O McDonald C Scerri N O’Driscoll J Sharp B Banfield H Davies

OUT: A Pearce (knee) H Young (concussion) C Wagner (abductor)