Fremantle forward Cam McCarthy has been diagnosed with epilepsy following his scary training collapse last week, but the club is confident it won’t derail his AFL career.

McCarthy was taken to hospital after collapsing during a non-contact drill in Perth on June 3.

The club announced on Thursday that McCarthy’s neurologist has diagnosed him with epilepsy following a series of tests.

“This will mean that Cam has to undergo some treatment, which involves medication for a period of time,” Fremantle football operations manager Peter Bell said.

“Cam’s working his way through that and the club will support him as well with our medical team.”

McCarthy has already been ruled out for Saturday’s clash with Brisbane, but there’s a chance he could return to playing duties next week.

“As far as football is concerned, Cam will continue to build to play,” Bell said.

“There’s no reason, according to the specialist, that he can’t continue to play AFL football.

“Given the interruptions to his training program, he won’t be playing this weekend however he trained strongly on Thursday and took part in the match simulation.

“We’ll make an assessment depending on how he trains and how he’s feeling for next week.”

Bell said McCarthy was upbeat and focused on a return to football.

“Cam remains in good spirits, he’s always upbeat and has high energy,” Bell said.

“He’s going to take this in his stride with the support of his family and the football club. We’re sure that we’ll see Cam out there playing AFL really soon.

“Cam will continue to stay here in the high performance centre on the Gold Coast and train, interact and do his best at training and playing. It will be business as usual.”

McCarthy was in and out of the senior side last year, and is set to be trialled as a big-bodied wingman in 2020.