Fremantle coach Ross Lyon admits it might be overly optimistic to believe star midfielder David Mundy will be ready for Round 1.
Mundy suffered a high ankle sprain in round 12 of 2011, an injury which was initially only expected to rule him out for six to eight weeks, but his recovery has been restricted by numerous setbacks.
The clearance specialist returned to play just one game in 2011 - their round 22 thrashing by North Melbourne - and is yet to join the main group in pre-season after twice undergoing surgery during the summer.
Lyon said 26-year-old Mundy, who won the Doig Medal for the Dockers' best player in 2010, still hoped to be ready for the round one clash against Geelong but indicated it would be hard.
"He's still a way off," the new coach said.
"Speaking to him, he thinks he's a chance for round one and I said 'you're being a bit optimistic'."
"But those great players tend to prove you wrong, so I'm hoping that's what's going to occur."
"In the end I trust my players, so if David's saying round one, let's give him every opportunity."
"He's around here [at Fremantle's training session on Wednesday] in rehabilitation sort of running and jogging and those types of things."
Mundy and young midfielder Anthony Morabito are Fremantle's main injury concerns heading into the new campaign, but the club have enjoyed a healthier pre-season than they did in 2011 under Mark Harvey.
Morabito's progress has been much slower than expected in his recovery from a knee reconstruction he underwent after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament in December 2010 and the 20-year-old former first-round pick has done little more than run laps since his return to the track.
Despite the concerns surrounding two of his most influential midfielders, Lyon said he was pleased with the fitness and injury status of his squad heading into the NAB Cup, which begins for the Dockers with matches against West Coast and Essendon on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Lyon said small forward Michael Walters had made good progress since being sent back to WAFL club Swan Districts in January due to his failure to meet conditioning requirements.
"He's going really well. He's in full training and he ran a really good 3km time trial last night," he said.
"We're hopeful of a return but at the end of the day you act your way in and act your way out."
"The door is open for Michael and we're really keen to have him back, but he'll decide whether he comes back or not."