Dockers stick with McDonald, Cox left out of grand final squad

The Fremantle Dockers have made their call on the grand final's most contentious selection question: Brennan Cox stays home, Oscar McDonald plays on. The decision, announced Thursday as both teams named their squads for Saturday's clash at the MCG, settles a week of speculation about whether the club would recall their injured key defender or stick with the journeyman who has filled the role competently enough in his absence.

Cox, a ten-year Docker with 153 games to his name, has not played competitive football in 35 days. A calf injury sustained in the final home-and-away round against Carlton sidelined him, and though he recovered enough to be considered for Peel Thunder's WAFL grand final on Sunday, coach Justin Longmuir withdrew him from that fixture. The stated reason was match fitness—McDonald had taken a heavy knock in the preliminary final win over Sydney, and continuity in the back half of the season mattered more than recalling a player, however talented, who had missed significant time. Longmuir did not shy from the difficulty of the choice. "Fully fit, he's in our best 23," he said on AFL 360. "He's a gun key back, but we've just gone for continuity and we've gone for match fitness in a grand final." Cox trained strongly on Wednesday at the club's Perth base, but it proved insufficient. He has been named as an emergency, alongside experienced midfielder Jaeger O'Meara and small forward Chris Scerri.

McDonald, who arrived at Fremantle after stints with Melbourne and Carlton, will play in his first grand final as part of an unchanged side. Longmuir said the decision had not been finalized until after Wednesday's session, and that the real question had been structural—whether to field three tall forwards—rather than McDonald's place specifically. "I think Oscar's pretty comfortable with where he is in the team," Longmuir said. The 27-player travelling party touched down in Melbourne on Thursday afternoon, and All Australian defender Jordan Clark acknowledged the human cost of final-week selections. "Coxy has been a wonderful player for us," Clark said. "There always is heartache. You just wrap your arms around them. As cliched as it is, there is always a heartbreak story. Unfortunately it's got to happen every year. They're still part of us."

Cox had been in strong form earlier in the season as Fremantle reeled off 14 consecutive wins. Longmuir had called him "probably the most underrated key back in the comp" after a round 16 victory over Gold Coast. But his body had begun to betray him—a knee issue required management in rounds 20 and 21, and the calf injury finished his season. He finishes with 18 games in 2026.

Meanwhile, Brisbane's Lachie Neale will take the field after the AFL's appeals board overturned his one-match suspension on Thursday afternoon. The two-time Brownlow medallist was cited for striking Hawthorn's Jack Ginnivan in the Lions' preliminary final victory, and the initial tribunal rejected Brisbane's challenge after a four-hour hearing on Tuesday. The club's second appeal succeeded. Longmuir said he had always expected the suspension would be overturned and that his team had been preparing accordingly. "It's probably taken a little bit longer than I expected to get to this point," he said. "Clearly, we're going to put some time into him now. We've already put some time into him and he's a champion of the game, so having him out there's going to help them." Brisbane has also named an unchanged lineup, with Cody Curtin, Noah Answerth, and Bruce Reville as emergencies. The grand final begins Saturday at 12:30pm at the MCG.