{"id":500728,"date":"2026-02-24T09:54:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T09:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/500728\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T09:54:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T09:54:12","slug":"fremantle-dockers-forward-sam-switkowski-ruled-out-of-preseason-clash-with-delayed-concussion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/500728\/","title":{"rendered":"Fremantle Dockers forward Sam Switkowski ruled out of preseason clash with delayed concussion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Fremantle forward Sam Switkowski has suffered his third concussion in three years, with the club revealing the head injury prevented him from playing in Saturday\u2019s practice match against West Coast.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Switkowski was a surprising omission from the team that took on the Eagles, given he trained last week and spoke during a press conference in the build-up to the match.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">He watched from the balcony on Saturday and trained by himself on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Switkowski suffered multiple concussions as a junior and has struggled to recover from head knocks in recent seasons.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">He reported a delayed concussion after playing against Port Adelaide in 2024. That incident cost him three matches.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Then last year he suffered a huge knock during the pre-season game against the Indigenous All-Stars and was again diagnosed with a concussion.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/afa68c110f0f450d9bb71b2aa613c46e05b2f4a9-161x229-x1191y0w2608h3710.jpg\" alt=\"Sam Swikowski was concussed last year.\" class=\"css-16r7l45-StyledImage en5ut4d0\" height=\"3710\" width=\"2608\"\/>Camera IconSam Swikowski was concussed last year. Credit: Michael Willson\/AFL Photos\/AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Dockers footy boss Joe Brierty said Switkowski reported concerns several days after playing in the intraclub game in Bunbury on February 13 but he remains on track to play against Geelong in round one.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Following training last Thursday, Sam entered concussion protocols,\u201d Brierty said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cUnfortunately, he experienced some delayed symptoms from the Bunbury intraclub match.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cSam is progressing well through the protocols and is continuing his preparations for round one against Geelong.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Clubs and players have been extremely cautious with concussions as they have become more educated about the dangers. Multiple players have been forced to retire due to head injuries in recent seasons, with West Coast star Jeremy McGovern\u2019s career ended last season.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4c25d293258d9a6af1e0110d01a6e674f5d8c2be-161x229-x137y0w2812h4000.jpg\" alt=\"Sam Switkowski trained by himself on Tuesday,\" class=\"css-16r7l45-StyledImage en5ut4d0\" height=\"4000\" width=\"2812\"\/>Camera IconSam Switkowski trained by himself on Tuesday, Credit: Ian Munro\/The West Australian<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">The positive for Switkowski is his concussions have not been cases where he has been knocked out instantly on the field. He has passed concussion tests on game day and then reported his symptoms later in the week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Fremantle will play their final pre-season game against Adelaide in Mandurah on Saturday afternoon and then play against Geelong on March 14.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fremantle forward Sam Switkowski has suffered his third concussion in three years, with the club revealing the head&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":500729,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,10124,588,85],"class_list":["post-500728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-fremantle-dockers","tag-sport","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}