Fremantle forward Sam Switkowski has opened up on the doubts he faced leading into the Dockers’ drought-breaking finals series as he ran a race against time to return from a back injury.

The 26-year-old suffered a stress fracture in his back mid-way through the year that sidelined him until round 22 - the same injury that ruled him out for the entire 2020 season.

“There were massive doubts during that first week or two,” Switkowski told The West Australian.

“I didn’t see myself coming back and playing just because of the experience I had in 2020.”

Switkowski’s last fracture was sudden and the realisation he’d be sidelined for months was swift.

He didn’t realise his latest break had occurred until the hours after Fremantle’s round 13 clash with Hawthorn.

“It’s often unfortunately quite complicated with the stress fractures. Sometimes they present with symptoms and sometimes you don’t see them coming,” he said.

“This one crept up on me. I was in a good run of form and feeling really good but then had an unfortunate game against Hawthorn.

“It cracked during the warm-up but I didn’t even know it and played out the game in a bit of pain. I got a scan and it was unfortunate news. That’s just football sometimes.

“It was pretty tough to deal with but it’s the challenges of the industry.”

At the time, Fremantle were nestled in the top four and one of the form teams of the competition. The club had just defeated Melbourne and Brisbane back-to-back and were sitting pretty at 10-3.

Switkowski thought his luck had run out once again. But he never gave up hope.

“I was able to be aggressive with my rehab and get back and contribute to a finals campaign,” Switkowski said.

“That was a good learning experience for me because even though the injury was quite similar, there was a different way of rehabbing it.

“I spent a lot of time with the strength and conditioning staff and we got lots of good information from people externally as well so we found another path.”

Switkowski will apply the same mindset if he encounters any further injuries but also believes he’s done enough work to warrant an uninterrupted season.

“It builds belief that just because you had one bad experience, it doesn’t mean it’s going to be the same next time,” he said.

“I’m doing everything I can to figure out where my biggest deficiencies are that are contributing to my lack of durability. I’ve done a stack of work in my five years at Fremantle.

“I’ve made huge gains in a lot of areas and strengthened up my body. I’m striving to put together a full season and working on my durability. Hopefully, it turns and I can get out there for 22 or 25 games.

“I don’t feel like I’m owed luck. I’m not really owed anything. You can’t complain and dwell on it. You have to move on.”

I don’t feel like I’m owed luck. I’m not really owed anything. You can’t complain and dwell on it. You have to move on.

In recent years, Switkowski has quickly earned a reputation as a barometer.

In the seven games he was sidelined in 2022, Fremantle lost four of them. That record improves to 5-5 if the three games Switkowski missed earlier in the season are included.

His on-field performance has earned him an elite tag, handed out by Champion Data to the players that rank in the top 10 per cent of their position.

“If you’re claimed to be a barometer, it’s always a good thing,” he said.

“The Champion Data stuff comes up a lot and it’s nice recognition to get but I’ve always had good recognition internally and known the importance of my role. I’ve never gone away from what’s important in my game.”

After playing an important role in the finals campaign, the Dockers’ small forwards are set to play an even bigger part next season.

The club’s talls have been a rotating cast in attack as Fremantle attempt to find the right mix in the one area of the ground that hasn’t quite clicked.

But the mosquito fleet have been a constant and will continue to be in 2023 as Luke Jackson enters the equation.

“We’ve had quite a bit of personnel change in that forward line across the years. But us small forwards have had a bit of continuity playing together,” Switkowski said.

“It can’t be on one person to apply the pressure, we all need to buy in.

“I think our defensive game is really strong. Our offensive game continues to improve. From an execution point of view, I think we could’ve put teams to the sword last season but we couldn’t put the goals on the board.

“It continually evolves but I’m excited to train with them again this pre-season and build that chemistry.”

Injury aside, Switkowski endured another low point when he was banned for two games for a chicken-wing tackle on Collingwood’s Jack Ginnivan in round 10.

“It was an interesting time for me. It’s not something I’ve gone through before,” he said.

“It was a split second in a game where I made the wrong decision. It wasn’t intentional but I had to take responsibility for it.”

AFL great Gary Lyon accused Switkowski of knowing “what he was doing” and said he only had “himself to blame”.

He wasn’t the only critic as the social media pile-on got to work.

“Within myself, I knew the things that people were saying about me weren’t true. I know I’m a good person who plays in the spirit of the game,” Switkowski said.

“It didn’t take a toll in that sense. It was more so the impact it had on friends and family. They read what gets written about you.

“People are going to have harsh opinions and people who don’t know me are going to write things that they don’t know any better. There were people it affected on so I felt for them.

“I moved on from it pretty quickly.”

Putting 2022 behind him, Switkowski is eager to get stuck into next season and believes consistency will be key to the Dockers running deep into finals.

At their best, Fremantle were one of the most threatening teams in the competition.

But a shaky patch in the back half of the season, including three consecutive losses to Sydney, Richmond and Melbourne, cost the Dockers a top-four spot.

“We proved in games when we were on, we could beat anybody,” Switkowski said.

“We beat Geelong in Geelong and they ended up being the most dominant team and won the premiership.

“We’ve got the players, the coaches and we know our game plan is good. We just need to execute it on a consistent basis.”

Fremantle also got a crucial taste of finals, coming from 41-points down to beat the Western Bulldogs only to falter against Collingwood. Switkowski has pledged the Dockers will return.

“Those sorts of things fuel you even more. I think I can speak on behalf of the team and say we’re more motivated than ever to get back to finals next year,” he said.