Fremantle Dockers star forward Aine Tighe ruled out of Pride Round clash with Sydney

Fremantle will be without star forward Aine Tighe for the club’s final game of the season after she was ruled out of Sunday’s Pride Round clash with knee soreness.

Tighe was named in the extended squad to face Sydney at Fremantle Oval before being withdrawn on Friday, with Dockers coach Lisa Webb confirming she had pulled up sore from training.

Fremantle have confirmed the signing of former Melbourne and Carlton defender Oscar McDonald on a two-year deal.

McDonald will join his third AFL club after being signed by the Dockers through the 2023 delisted free agency period, which opened on Wednesday morning.

The 27-year-old spent this year in the VFL with Williamstown, where he would help lead the Seagulls to a semi-final finish and earn a place in the competition’s Team of the Year at full-back.

McDonald averaged 16.8 disposals and 8.1 marks per game for the standalone club across 20 appearances, having joined Williamstown alongside former Demons teammate Marty Hore for the 2023 season.

The key defender was delisted by Carlton at the end of last year following two seasons on the Blues’ list, with McDonald managing five games under coaches David Teague and Michael Voss.

McDonald earned a second chance with Carlton as a Supplemental Selection Period signing two years ago, having been cut by Melbourn after 81 games and six years in the red and blue.

The Edenhope-Apsley junior has now earned a third chance in the AFL, with Fremantle confirming the acquisition of McDonald as a delisted free agent.

“He has a big, mature body (196cm and 100kg), was very good in one on one contests and is moving better than ever,” Fremantle list manager David Walls said in a club statement.

“Oscar played 20 VFL games in 2023, as well as practice matches, so is coming off a full season where he looked a level above the VFL competition.

“He gives us some coverage as a key back following Joel Hamling’s move to Sydney as a delisted free agent.”

The Dockers’ move for McDonald comes after the Cockburn club lost veteran defender Joel Hamling to Sydney via unrestricted free agency earlier this month.

The first window for delisted free agency will run until 5:00pm next Wednesday before opening again the following Friday for eight hours and again following the National Draft.

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Fremantle speedster Liam Henry has completed his move to St Kilda, as the Dockers and Saints came to a reported agreement on Monday.

Despite officially nominating the Moorabbin club as his new home some time ago, the two clubs haven’t had an easy time negotiating Henry’s Victorian switch.

However, just over two days out from the deadline, Fremantle agreed to offload the uncontracted wingman to St Kilda in exchange for a future second-round selection while both sides swapped fourth-round selections for 2024 as well.

The deal sees Fremantle add a 2024 second-round selection to their draft hand for next year after trading their own selection of the same value to Port Adelaide last week. The Dockers also hold a trio of 2024 first-round selections following recent deals with Collingwood and the Power.

While Henry plied his trade as a wingman and through the midfield portion of the ground for Fremantle in 2023, the 22-year-old possesses the positional versatility to be able to venture forward and create havoc around the goal face, too.

His deployment under Ross Lyon at Moorabbin should be a topic worth following.

Meanwhile, after completing their move for Henry, St Kilda has multiple additional exchanges to navigate; including offloading defender Nick Coffield to the Western Bulldogs and its acquisition of wantaway Carlton midfielder Paddy Dow.