Tactical genius that will get the Dockers to September: It's time we give some respect to Fremantle and Justin Longmuir
Longmuir deserves credit for the tactical development of his style and the way the playing group has embraced it.
As a footy fan, all you want is to see your team win, right? But what if they win ugly?
The Dockers of years gone by had their biggest success in 2006. For those who remember, they made the preliminary final that year, only to be pipped by the Swans during the last quarter in Sydney.
Coach Chris Connolly had the team playing a exciting and vibrant game with lots of quick movement.
But during that game the Swans had perfected the art of slowing a game down, and on the turnover, scoring.
Fast forward to this season under Ross Lyon and the fan is confronted with a far different team. If you had said to any Fremantle member that they would be five wins, two losses, at this stage of the season, most would take it.
The Dockers are equal fourth on the ladder with a number of other teams and only one win away from the top group.
But they way Fremantle has been winning has left many of the fans flat. They are used to fast flowing, exciting football. Unpredictable football.
Now, the forwards are shutting down the defence of the opposition, keeping it in the forward fifty. At times it is ugly football, contested and almost rugby-like. But they do find themselves winning.
Perhaps its time for the member to have a rethink. Do they want to win or not? Troy Cook, former Docker and Sydney player, suggested as much when he commented that this 2012 Dockers side reminded him of the Swans side he left in 2005.
Maybe success will come as the Dockers replicate the ugly footy that saw the Swans take them to back to back grand finals in 2005 and 2006.
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