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Red hot ladder leaders the Fremantle Dockers will be looking to extend their unbeaten start to the season to eight games when they take on the North Melbourne Kangaroos at Domain Stadium. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 7:40pm (AEST).
The ninth-placed Roos have won their past two matches against the Tigers and the Bombers, and will have confidence from being only one of two teams last year who defeated the Dockers on their new home ground.
Sam Gibson and veteran champion Brent Harvey were the heroes for the Roos that night, but they face a much tougher task this time around missing three key midfielders in captain Andrew Swallow, Daniel Wells and Nick Dal Santo.
The Roos will also have to cope with the loss of tall forward Ben Brown, who has down well this season averaging two goals a game and providing a good target up forward.
There’s no worse team to face with a depleted midfield than the rampant Dockers. Their midfield has been dominant so far this season led by Brownlow favourite Nat Fyfe, who will play his 100th game. Fyfe leads the league in average contested possessions per game, and is third in inside 50s, possessions and effective disposals.
He also averages 27 disposals a game against North, the best of any team he has faced. However the Dockers are far from a one-man band in the midfield and Fyfe has been ably supported by David Mundy, Lachie Neale, Stephen Hill, Danyle Pearce and Michael Barlow.
Fyfe, Mundy and Neale all rank in the top dozen players in the league for effective disposals.
Prediction
North ruckman Todd Goldstein could hold the key to this game. He’s had a good year so far and his ability to negate the influence of Docker giant Aaron Sandilands will be more crucial than ever with North’s depleted midfield.
Full back Scott Thompson also has a crucial role to try and stop champion Matthew Pavlich who has kicked nine goals in the past two games. Thompson will be hoping for support from Lachie Hansen who took 14 marks against the Bombers last week roaming across half back.
The Dockers will need to ensure Hansen is held more accountable than he was last week where he was given far too much freedom, many times playing the loose man in defence.
Dockers look too strong in the midfield and their midfield has been difficult to score against conceding a league-low 65 points a game.
Dockers by 30 points.
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