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The Sydney Swans and Fremantle Dockers will battle out a defensive struggle on Saturday night. Join our live blog with scores and commentary from 7.40pm AEST.
Fifth and sixth on the ladder face off in what looms as an intriguing clash.
Sydney is yet to play their best football this season and was shown up by Hawthorn last week.
While many of their prime midfielders are in good form the Swans have struggled defensively against the best teams.
They gave up 119 points to the Hawks and 124 against Geelong.
Meanwhile, Fremantle has undoubtedly made coach Ross Lyon a happy man.
Missing Matthew Pavlich, Aaron Sandilands, Nathan Fyfe, Kepler Bradley and Stephen Hill (among others) the Dockers put in a huge effort to beat Collingwood.
Their lack of a dominant key forward has hardly been an issue so far as Michael Walters has put himself in to All-Australian contention.
But Jon Griffin going down with a knee injury could cause major problems for Fremantle.
Jack Hannath looks the most likely candidate to be the number one ruckman after playing only three games.
Although Shane Mumford may miss for the Swans with continuing groin problems, Mike Pyke has been in great form, leading the league for contested marks.
Fremantle’s midfield is set to welcome Nathan Fyfe back following a suspension.
He will be an important inclusion for what is sure to be a congested game on the small SCG.
Sydney and Fremantle are number two and three respectively for tackles laid this season, and ranked first and fifth for most stoppages per game.
The Dockers will have to be wary of Sydney’s even spread of goalkickers, with eight players averaging at least a goal a game this year.
Jude Bolton leads the Swans in this department with 13 goals from his seven games, while Jarrad McVeigh, Josh Kennedy, Luke Parker, Adam Goodes, Ryan O’Keefe and Daniel Hannebery all have proven quite accomplished at playing midfield and scoring goals.
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