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For footy followers in Victoria, the teams out west don’t get so much of a mention in the news. What form they have is often overlooked due to a lack of proximity and mediocre showings when they do venture east.
Last year, West Coast was a roughie, a potential juggernaut threatening to launch into a new era. They appeared overnight and disappeared just as quickly.
Likewise, Fremantle provides an intriguing conundrum this year, having flown under the radar for much of the year.
While Sydney, Hawthorn, Collingwood and Geelong are never short of analysis, Fremantle are still something of an unknown quantity.
Their record in Melbourne has improved but definitely remains sketchy. This year has seen them build into a disciplined unit, something we’ve come to expect from any Ross Lyon-coached team.
Victorian media have largely overlooked them as a genuine contender, with experts and opposition fans only now starting to sit up, take notice and re-evaluate their September calculations. Some might consider their draw to be one of the easier ones on paper and so form is hard to judge.
The AFL obviously don’t see them being a very interesting prospect, as was indicated by the revelation the Dockers are to play Geelong down at the cattery in the first week of finals. Perhaps a little unfair, perhaps not.
Arguably Geelong deserve the same home-ground advantage as Freo would have enjoyed if they had earned a home final.
Considering what happened to them last time they ventured down to Simmonds Stadium, Freo are understandably miffed. But that is history now. It’s up to them how they handle their return visit.
This takes us to Round 23, where Ross Lyon chose take some extensive, some might yet say foolish, precautions. As a certainty for a top-four finish, resting a few players is to be expected.
Consecutive trips between Western Australia and Victoria aren’t ideal and to this end a different conditioning approach from the Victorian clubs is warranted. But the fact that they went so far as to rest 12 players is more than a little puzzling.
Looking back to 2009, a Ross Lyon-led St Kilda were unbeaten when they took on Hawthorn in Round 19. They travelled south to Aurora Stadium, resting seven players in the process. That team won convincingly.
The next week, with many of their stars supposedly a week fresher, the seemingly unbeatable Saints were bundled by a struggling Bombers outfit.
The same happened a week later against North Melbourne. This occurred over Rounds 20 and 21, so the stakes were relatively meagre. It is puzzling that Ross Lyon would take what proved to be a large gamble again with a final coming up.
Since the staggered byes have been introduced, converting a week’s rest into a win has been an arduous task, and with such a large portion rested Round 23 was essentially a bye.
Fremantle will be hoping a late rest before the final onslaught will be an added bonus for a bruised list. There is no doubt the players won’t need any encouraging to get up for a final, particularly a qualifying final.
However, all criticism of sportsmanship towards St Kilda aside, their Round 23 form and attitude was less than impressive, leaking more than 500 disposals and racking up less than 300 themselves.
It was a bruise-free encounter wrapped in cotton wool.
Let’s hope that this lack of intensity has not dented Fremantle’s momentum coming into September and we still see a competitive side taking the trip down to Geelong.
Considering Brisbane’s near heroics last weekend, if there was ever a time to play Geelong at Simmonds Stadium, it would be now.
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