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The Fremantle Dockers’ 2015 season can be compared to a chocolate cake at a really good restaurant.
It passes all initial tests with flying colours: it looks pretty, tastes delicious, and you feel like nothing could be better.
As you get deeper into it though, you find some uncooked spots, some cracks in the mixture, and you begin to question how good it actually is.
You finish disappointed – all the more so after the how great it was at the beginning.
The Dockers’ flying, 9-0 start to 2015 put them on track for a historic home-and-away season, and had people raving about how dominant they could be.
While they were stacked with talent all across the field, their midfield was one of the league’s best.
Nat Fyfe is the AFL’s best player – his excellence simply cannot be matched. Lachie Neale established himself as an elite level AFL midfielder, while David Mundy, Danyle Pearce and Nick Suban all played outstanding supporting roles. And, as always, they were led superbly by 211-centimetre giant Aaron Sandilands.
As the season progressed though, the same old questions surrounding Ross Lyon teams began to pop up – do they play fast enough to win a flag? Can they score enough points to contend in September?
Though they claimed the club’s first minor premiership, it turned out those concerns were legitimate, as the Dockers once again bowed out of a finals series with no silverware.
2016 shapes as a crucial season for Fremantle. They still have one of the best teams in the AFL, but it is becoming a case of ‘premiership or bust’ for Lyon and his crew, as another disappointing finals series won’t cut it. Anything short of a flag this September will raise questions about his position as head coach.
Lyon has always been a winning coach, but has never led his team to a premiership. Is his old-school style of football simply not sustainable in this new age? 2016 should see that question answered, as well as determine his future.
Best 22
B: Lee Spurr, Zac Dawson, Garrick Ibbotson
HB: Cam Sutcliffe, Michael Johnson, Stephen Hill
C: Danyle Pearce, Nat Fyfe, Nick Suban
HF: Chris Mayne, Matt Taberner, Michael Barlow
F: Hayden Ballentyne, Matthew Pavlich, Michael Walters
Foll: Aaron Sandilands, Lachie Neale, David Mundy
INT: Harley Bennell, Matt de Boer, Alex Pearce, Zac Clarke
MVP: Nat Fyfe
Fyfe is coming off one of the most dominant seasons ever in AFL history, as evidenced by his runaway Brownlow Medal win.
Fyfe’s speed, strength, agility, skill and any other aspect of football you can think of are all world class. His 2015 numbers speak for themselves: 28.8 disposals, 15.0 handballs, 13.8 kicks, 4.3 tackles and 4.2 marks.
Fyfe is the best player in the league, and shows no signs of slowing down.
Future star: Lachie Neale
Neale exploded in 2015, establishing himself as one of the leagues best midfielders. His per-game averages of 27.4 disposals, 14.1 handballs, 13.3 kicks, 4.8 marks and 3.6 tackles are Brownlow level – that he is just 22 is scary.
Many have bashed Freo for being ‘too old’, but with young talent like Neale separating themselves from the competition, the Dockers have some future superstars on their hands.
Make or break: Harley Bennell
The Dockers big-time off-season signing was former Gold Coast Sun standout Bennell, whose previous off-field troubles make 2016 such a huge year for him.
Bennell couldn’t get out of his own way during his tenure with the Suns; he was constantly in trouble, headlined by a front-page drugs scandal in 2015.
Bennell’s on-field play is nothing to be worried about – he averaged 23.5 disposals and 15.0 kicks per game last season – but he must straighten out off the field.
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