Port Fairy will field a senior team against Warrnambool on Saturday.
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Seagulls coach Winis Imbi confirmed his team's return, with the group yielding enough fit and healthy players this week to field the 21-strong senior side needed for its final home game of the year at Gardens Oval.
Port Fairy forfeited its August 6 fixture against Koroit due to an extensive injury list.
"The plan was always in place to wait and see how some boys pulled up," Imbi said. "We knew we were getting three players back anyway so last week we were five or six players short.
"We definitely got some back and there are a couple travelling back as well. So we definitely have enough to fill a senior team."
I am glad our club is connected again and playing on the weekend.
- WInis Imbi
Imbi said players such as Tyler Hetherington committed to finish the season with the Seagulls, while he also expects more to return for round 18 against Hamilton. Hetherington has appeared in one game for Port Fairy in 2022, against Cobden in round four.
Warrnambool coach Ben Parkinson said he received a text from Imbi on Tuesday night and welcomed the news his team had an opposition to play in the lead up to its Hampden league finals campaign.
"We're absolutely happy we get to play," he said. "We need to keep playing building into these last two games before finals. One for consistency within the team and two, to keep working on how we want to play when we get to the finals."
Parkinson said the Blues trained harder than usual on Tuesday, not knowing whether they had a game on Saturday.
"That's the risk we had to take," he said. "We won't have any carry over from training, we'll be fine. Now we know what we're doing Thursday night and going into Saturday."
Parkinson said selection would be tough, with more players now available through the loss of the reserves game.
"There will be some unlucky guys who don't have anywhere to go back and prove our coaching panel wrong if they get omitted," he said. "But it's nothing we can control, it is what it is."
Imbi believes everyone around the club would have dealt with last round's forfeit differently.
He said he had worried for players' mental health who could play and didn't get the chance last round while also conceding it was hard to continue to call on older players to suit up time and again just to fill numbers.
Imbi added it was important to provide supporters with a home game on Saturday, citing those who come and watch the team week-in-week-out.
"I am glad our club is connected again and playing on the weekend," he said.
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