Not many people though that Hayden Ballantyne’s one week suspension would be costly at all with Fremantle playing St. Kilda the following weekend, but boy were they wrong.
Fremantle didn’t just get their pants pulled down, they lost them completely as St. Kilda (last on the ladder) ran away with a 58 point win against a team that could well have been on top at the end of this round.
Two costly decisions, one by Ballantyne and one by the Fremantle selection committee, may well have cost Fremantle this match.
Firstly, the decicion by Hayden Ballantyne to strike Greater Western Sydney defender Tomas Bugg last week was a stupid one considering Freo were 50 points up at that stage.
Secondly, the decision by the selection committee to rest Aaron Sandilands also was very costly. Ballantyne and Sandilands must have been watching this game in agony knowing that they could have played.
Without them Fremantle crumbled, and notably without Sandilands they got smashed in the clearances as the young Saints midfield ran riot. Luke McPharlin was obviously unfit and did not play on Nick Riewoldt leaving that job for ex-Saint Zac Dawson who wasn’t up to the task as Riewoldt had a day out booting four.
McPharlin himself had a stinker lining up on Rhys Stanley who kicked three, and Michael Johnson had his worst game for two years as he fumbled and bumbled around in defence. Only small defenders Paul Duffield and Tendai Mzungu stood up on the defensive end for the Dockers.
In the midfield, Nat Fyfe was well held to 18 touches and David Mundy turned the ball over so many times that I thought he was secretly playing for the Saints.
The Forward line was just terrible, Pav booted three but other than the Skipper nobody else did anything at all.
Colin Sylvia looks like he is playing at WAFL level and should be sent back to Peel this week, his input was summed up in one play where he got the football in the clear 40 metres and out directly in front but instead of having a go he passed it to Pavlich who was on a super tight angle with a much harder shot.
Morabito still isn’t 100% yet and Nick Suban got pinged holding the ball three times, once inside his defensive 50 metre and Matt Taberner looks lost out there. Matt De Boer was one player who could’ve added some grunt into this Freo side but was started as the substitute and by the time he came on it was too late.
Take nothing away from St Kilda who were fantastic yesterday and thoroughly deserved their win, but as a angry Fremantle supporter I thought they were weak yesterday and don’t deserve to make the top four with an effort like that.
Another thing that this performance has shown me is that without Sandilands and Ballantyne there is no Freo. Ballaz has missed two games this year through suspension and Freo have lost them both. Accordingly, I believe them to be Fremantle’s two most important players!
I am sure Ross will have the axe swinging this week with the likes of Ballantyne, Sandilands, Hill, Silvagni, Ibbotson and maybe (fingers and toes crossed) even Michael Walters might come back this week, even Kepler Bradley is a chance!
And I wouldn’t be surprised if Chris Judd retires next week before Carlton play the Dockers, it worked for Lenny!
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