Docker Sylvia punished for slack fitness

Fremantle midfielder Colin Sylvia may struggle to play in the AFL this year after being punished by the club for failing to meet pre-season physical markers.

Colin Sylvia of the Fremantle Dockers

Fremantle's Colin Sylvia has been banished to the WAFL after failing to meet physical markers. (AAP)

Fremantle midfielder Colin Sylvia is back in the bad books, with the former Demon banished to the WAFL after failing to meet pre-season physical markers.

Sylvia will train with Peel Thunder after the Dockers deemed he had not been able to get himself up to a standard to play AFL football.

Fremantle expected big things of Sylvia after signing the free agent on a three-year, $1 million contract at the end of 2013.

But the 29-year-old - a veteran of 163 games - has failed to live up to those expectations so far.

After putting in a series of underwhelming performances during his six-match stretch in the side last year, Sylvia was axed and publicly criticised by coach Ross Lyon.

At the time, Lyon said Sylvia needed to "go back and deliver actions that will build trust within the match committee that will select him and, more importantly, his teammates.

"He's played a certain way for a long time and he needs to shift, because we're not bending to Col.

"Col will bend to us. He knows that and he understands that."

But it appears not much has changed over the summer, with the club sending Sylvia a big wake-up call by demoting him to the WAFL.

Sylvia has spent most of the summer in Fremantle's rehab group following post-season ankle surgery.

"We will continue to work closely with Colin, but he now has the opportunity to go to Peel Thunder and focus on getting himself back to the level required to play in the AFL," Fremantle football operations manager Chris Bond said.

Fremantle goalsneak Michael Walters found himself in the same position as Sylvia in 2012 when he was banished to the WAFL due to substandard skinfolds.

Walters worked diligently during his time away, before returning with a bang to establish himself as one of the competition's best small forwards.

But it wasn't a happy ending for Josh Simpson, who was axed from Fremantle's list last year following a string of disciplinary issues.


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