Fremantle midfielder Anthony Morabito will miss the start of the AFL season after tweaking his quad at training.

Morabito, who was out all of last season with a knee injury, was on track to play at least one match during the pre-season competition.

But the 20-year-old will have to start 2012 in the WAFL after the quad strain last week pushed his return back by about three weeks.

“It won’t hinder him too much,” coach Ross Lyon said on Wednesday.

“It’s a little bit of a frustration but, for the Freo fans, it’s only going to push him back a couple of weeks.

“He’s going to play WAFL.

“We could have drip fed him into the NAB Cup for a half, but it’ll be 70 weeks without playing football, so he’ll play WAFL.

“He’ll need a few weeks in the WAFL to get acclimatised to playing footy again and to get him ready for the AFL.”

Morabito was a revelation in his rookie year of 2010, playing 23 of a possible 24 games before injuring his knee at training in December that year.

Fellow midfielder David Mundy is also expected to miss the start of 2012 due to a slower-than-expected recovery from an ankle injury.

Fremantle, who beat Essendon but lost to West Coast in the opening round of the NAB Cup, face off against Richmond at Patersons Stadium on Sunday.