Fremantle’s rejigged midfield tactics have failed this season despite the dominance of Aaron Sandilands. Now they face trying to reignite their season, and their stoppage work, with a much weaker ruck division following his injury.
The Dockers this year have punted on a more aggressive, free-wheeling set-up at the ruck contests and it has backfired so far, seeing a massive increase in the amount of scores they’ve conceded from stoppages.
This bold strategic change clearly was an effort to become a more dynamic, potent and unpredictable side, having leaned for years on their defensive brilliance.
Will they now have to completely ditch this fresh approach in the wake of losing the ruck prowess of Sandilands? If their new tactics were coming unstuck even with the purple giant feeding their on-ballers, how ugly could it get with a far less gifted big man at the helm?
It was a brave move by the Dockers to move away from the well-oiled midfield set-up, which had taken them to a 17-5 regular season in 2015. They seem to have realised what many football fans had been arguing – that their defence-oriented game would keep them among the top teams but looked unlikely to propel them to a flag.
This seems even more pertinent now, given the hyper-offensive brand of football being pursued across the league. So Fremantle find themselves in a catch-22 situation.
By Sunday night, their premiership hopes could disappear. Right now, that looks more likely than not, with North Melbourne strong favourites to defeat the Dockers at Etihad Stadium.
Should last year’s minor premiers slump to 0-4 they will fall out of the flag race and be left to seriously consider a rebuild of some sort.
This is a side which has been studded with pivotal older players for several seasons now, and will face the Kangaroos without two of those veteran stars – Sandilands and skipper David Mundy.
Mundy is out for a couple of weeks with a calf injury, while Sandilands could be absent for about six weeks due to fractured ribs and a punctured lung suffered during the derby loss to West Coast.
While young gun Nat Fyfe may be the best footballer in the land, Sandilands remains arguably Fremantle’s most important player. Turning 34 years old this year, with 241 games in the bank, it’s remarkable that a footballer of his unprecedented size is still playing, let alone at such a high level.
This season may well be his last and Fremantle need to start preparing for post-Sandilands life, something which will be forced upon them over the next six weeks or so.
Reliable backup big man Jonathon Griffin is getting on himself, at 30 years old by the start of next season, so the ruck burden may well fall heavily upon Zac Clarke in the near future.
The word ‘promising’ long has been used in reference to Clarke and at the age of 26 he is entering what is typically the prime years for a ruckman. Yet he hasn’t convinced me of his credentials.
With his slight frame and complete absence of menace he looks far better suited to operating in the slipstream of the gigantic, intimidating Sandilands. Clarke’s agility and pace is impressive for a 203-centimetre footballer, but so it should be given he weighs only 96 kilograms.
After almost a decade in the AFL system, Clarke still has the body of a teenager. Compare his chassis to that of West Coast’s number one big man Nic Naitanui. Despite being two centimetres shorter than Clarke, Naitanui is a whopping nine kilogram heavier. In ball ups and boundary throw-ins he moves Clarke out of the way as if he were a mascot, not a direct opponent.
Most opposition ruckmen do just this to the skinny Docker, and also target him at the centre bounces, jumping early and into his body to exploit their greater bulk.
Clearly, Clarke has difficulty putting on muscle, so he will have to find a way to have an impact at the stoppages despite his frequent size disadvantages. He or Griffin have enormous roles to play over the next six weeks.
Right now, Fremantle’s gameplan is as messy as their record, and neither are likely to improve greatly if Griffin and Clarke underperform.
Dalgety Carrington
Roar Guru
So you reckon a bloke with all his experience and finals campaigns would realign his coaching strategies after 1 game, 1? Seriously? I've no need to defend Lyon at all. I just don't agree with your logic. I've observed on numerous occasions when new game plans take a bit of implementing. Even if they start well, they can still run into problems. Human beings often learn and develop that way, with a sudden leap and capacity spurt at the beginning when everything's fresh, but old habits have more space to creep in over time and faith in something new is tested (and we're obviously talking in multiples with a footy team). Sometimes that novel (relatively unknown thing) is tested immediately and confidence is hard to establish. But if it's handled right and they are committed (and if there's one thing Lyon is good at, it's getting players to commit to his cause) to push beyond these learning blips, the turnaround can be huge. That's why I have no truck with the rush to judge.
anon
Guest
"Well they beat Geelong at home, but the other two wins were against St Kilda at Etihad and Brisbane Lions, who finished 13th. They then fell into a fair sized hole and did’t really hit their straps until the latter stages of the season." Lost to the eventual premiers by two goals on the odd shaped SCG. That's a good effort. Beat the 2011 premiers (who were touted as one of the greatest teams of all time), lost narrowly to the 2012 premiers on their home ground. Based on that alone you have to say Ross had some good talent at his disposal and the game plan was working. Ross went into his shell after the Sydney. His thought process is, they kicked more goals than us if only we worked harder to restrict them. Let's become even more negative, conservative, risk averse. No need to defend Rossco.
Don Freo
Guest
In which case, surely you mean "uncohesive".
johno
Guest
yes mum
Giovanni Torre
Guest
Both.
johno
Guest
An article about Freo's midfield that doesn't mention Barlow, Hill, Pearce or Neale. Fails to mention a single junior player coming through the ranks like Weller, Langdon, Blakely, Tucker or Hughes. Articles like this serve to do one thing. Jump on the populist train of thought and whack a team that the author loves whacking. This is what you can glean from it 1. Freo are old 2. Sandi is old 3. Fyfe is young and the only decent player Freo have 4. Freo have no back up rucks as 5. Griffen is old 6. Clarke is too skinny 7. Author hasn't heard of Hannath or Apeness 8. Ermagherd NicNat 9. At 0-4 you can't make finals as you need 13 wins and you can't get 13 wins from 18 games ....
Dalgety Carrington
Roar Guru
Well they beat Geelong at home, but the other two wins were against St Kilda at Etihad and Brisbane Lions, who finished 13th. They then fell into a fair sized hole and did't really hit their straps until the latter stages of the season.
Dalgety Carrington
Roar Guru
In fairness, GWS just wouldn't even come to the table and you can't argue Freo weren't already offering "overs" for McCarthy. There was plenty on the table, but even if they wanted to offer more GWS weren't listening, as it turns out more fool them, like a rich kid burning $50 notes.
Dalgety Carrington
Roar Guru
It's a case of chicken or the egg though, isn't it? Were they AA because they were playing in a great team (enabled by system), or a great team because of the players they were. Likewise you can either conclude they fell in a heap because of what Lyon did to them, or that they were high enough to fall so far because of Lyon's system and the belief they had in him.
Dalgety Carrington
Roar Guru
We'll see on the premiership thing, but my point being I don't think you can sledge anybody's supporter credentials when you aren't flying the flag for any particular team yourself (and really, let's face it, only show up to be negative).
Gecko
Guest
Normally Don's comments are splattered everywhere. If we have to go sifting through scores of comments to find good ol' Don, there's definitely something wrong with him (and with us).
anon
Guest
Mate, Freo were 3-1 after round 4. Only loss by 2 goals to the eventual premiers at the SCG in round 2.
me too
Guest
11 All Australians in the list Ross had at the Saints. Backed up by good players like Gram, Gilbert, Schneider, Baker, Armitage, Steven, and dependables like Blake, Jones, Ray, Kosi, and Dawson.
Balthazar
Guest
Freo fans are around and have commented at length on this season. Just not this article. Probably to do with the cliches, lazy thinking and the usual suspects brandishing pitchforks. It's just a nest of trolls. You can only respond to the "Ross Lyon doesn't play the yoof/can't win finals brigade" so often before you find more enjoyable pursuits.
Axle an the Guru
Guest
I support the game Dal more so than a club,but you don't have to support anyone to have an opinion do you Dal, you have always known my opinion on Ross The Boss,and you have always known I've always said this will end without a premiership.
jax
Guest
I get no pleasure from seeing Freo performing so poorly as I was hoping for a derby GF. Well maybe a teeny bit of pleasure but not much. This is a friendly and timely reminder to all of us that it is admirable, and a lot of fun to get excited when your team is up and about. It's also a reminder not to get too far ahead of ourselves, lay the boots into others and act in an arrogant manner. I recall copping quite a bit of flack from some arrogant and ignorant Freo supporters as recently as 9-11 months ago. At the time I said that the tables would soon turn. Have they already turned? It would be arrogant and ignorant of me to say that they have, as technically speaking, Freo can still make the eight and I wouldn't want to behave like some of them have behaved in the past. I hope for their sake that they turn it around, but if they can't then they should take a dose of karma with a smile and learn the lesson. I've already noticed a prickliness in some of their responses to other posts, and not from the ones that you might have expected it to come from. It's only a game of footy, and many of us (including myself) forget that sometimes. Enjoy the season - win, lose or draw and good luck to everyone.
spruce moose
Guest
? No comprendo?
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
lol, not bad.
Dalgety Carrington
Roar Guru
Maybe when you are a supporter you can throw some stones Axle.
Dalgety Carrington
Roar Guru
Really? One game at the start of the season is supposed to mean anything significant is it?