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Freo gifted best AFL draw ever: Sheedy

11th August, 2013
16

AFL great Kevin Sheedy reckons Fremantle have won football’s equivalent of the lotto due to their friendly draw, but Dockers coach Ross Lyon says those claims are garbage.

Fremantle boosted their chances of a top-two finish with a club record 113-point thumping of Sheedy’s GWS at Patersons Stadium on Sunday.

The 24.13 (157) to 6.8 (44) win lifted Fremantle to within 6.2 per cent of third-placed Sydney, and they are just half a win adrift of second-placed Geelong.

Fremantle take on Melbourne (MCG), Port Adelaide (home) and St Kilda (ES) in a dream run to the finals.

Of the opponents Fremantle were drawn to play twice this year, only Richmond currently sit in the top-eight.

The other teams they were drawn to play twice – West Coast, Adelaide, St Kilda and Melbourne – are either near the bottom of the table, or highly unlikely to play finals.

Sheedy said the Dockers should thank their lucky stars for such a soft draw.

“It’s not their fault, but they have probably got the best draw of all time this year,” Sheedy said.

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“They have won TattsLotto.

“They haven’t played the top-four more than once.

“That’s going to make people more confident in how they play, because it gives you more practice time and game time to get their style of play together.”

Lyon was quick to hit back at Sheedy’s claims, pointing to the fact that West Coast were considered a flag fancy this year, while Adelaide came within a kick of reaching the 2012 grand final after finishing the season in second spot.

“Commentary on draws is really interesting, because like most analysts or flippant opposition coaches, it runs as deep as about the last two weeks,” Lyon said.

“I’m happy to listen when people do a real detailed analysis of the draw.

“The flippancies – they’re just red herrings thrown out.

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“It’s all garbage to be honest.”

Fremantle booted the opening seven goals of the match against GWS, but saw their margin whittled down to 17 points on the back of a Jeremy Cameron-inspired second-quarter fightback.

However, the Giants’ resistance was short lived, with Fremantle booting 16 goals to one in the second half to secure their biggest ever win, eclipsing the 112-point winning margin over Collingwood in 2005.

“I think we were playing a pretty desperate side. Fremantle are playing like junk yard dogs – pretty hungry,” Sheedy said.

“And I suppose they would be, because they haven’t had a lot of success over their life.”

Lyon conceded it wasn’t ideal playing struggling teams in the run to the finals.

But he said his team would have no problems in getting themselves battle-hardened ahead of the finals.

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Cameron’s four-goal haul lifted him to within two goals of West Coast’s Josh Kennedy in the race for the Coleman medal.

Fremantle lost Stephen Hill to a tight hamstring before the match, but Lyon said the star midfielder should be fit to take on Melbourne next week, along with Garrick Ibbotson (Achilles tendon).

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