Fremantle captain Nathan Fyfe faces a delayed start to the 2022 pre-season after further surgery on his dislocated shoulder.

Fremantle have revealed that the dual Brownlow Medallist underwent further surgery in Perth on Tuesday after progress in his recovery from the injury that prematurely ended his 2021 season had stalled.

“Nat’s recovery from his initial shoulder reconstruction surgery had plateaued and as a result we sent him in for a scan which indicated there was a small crack in the bone block that forms the basis of these types of surgery,” executive general manager of football Peter Bell said in a club statement.

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“We all know how diligent Nat is and he was complying with his program very well but these bone block fractures are known complications of this type of surgery.”

“As a result, Nat has undergone a revision of the surgery.”

“Whilst it is disappointing we know that he will be incredibly diligent in his recovery and a return to training date will be advised in due course.”

Fyfe would have been sue to resume training with Fremantle’s older playing group on December 6.

Fyfe reached the 200 game milestone in 2021 but it was an injury interrupted season for him ended by the shoulder dislocation.

He had also missed a game earlier in the season with concussion after being taken out off the ball by GWS player Sam Reid.

Fyfe initially injured the shoulder late in the round 12 battle with the Western Bulldogs at Optus Stadium , a match remarkable for the fact that Fremantle lost three players to injury in the space of a minute with Brennan Cox lost for the season with a serious hamstring problem.

Fyfe missed two games initially with the shoulder problem, then felt he could play out the season but apart from a 321 disposal effort in his milestone match against Hawthorn in Launceston he was well below his best in most games and frequently looked uncomfortable before he and the club called a stop to the season after he injured the shoulder again against Sydney at Metricon Stadium in round 19.

The delayed start to the pre-season, and the fact that the club is not ready to set a date for him to resume full training is a concern for a midfield that will be minus Adam Cerra in 2022 after he sought and was granted a trade to Carlton, but the Dockers have brought in some big-bodied midfield cover with Will Brodie one of the players traded in.