vFremantle have vowed not to direct any vicious sledging at Marc Murphy on Sunday as the Carlton AFL skipper deals with the fallout of verbal abuse from St Kilda players.
Murphy was left fuming after St Kilda players allegedly sledged him about his wife during last week’s Blues-Saints match.
Fremantle play Carlton on Sunday at Domain Stadium, and Dockers forward Shane Kersten says his team will steer clear of the issue when they face Murphy.
“Personally, I don’t think it’s on,” Kersten said on Tuesday.
“I’m not one to go out and sledge people. If there’s a little bit of sledging, it’s all in good humour.
“I’m sure we’ll have a briefing this week. But we’re not a team that goes out to try to target players in that way to get under their skin or anything.
“If they’re a good player and if we’re looking to tag them, then that’s what we’ll do.
“We don’t need to go over and above to try to win a game.”
Kersten said the young nature of Fremantle’s squad meant they probably couldn’t afford to get involved in sledging even if they wanted to.
“Obviously being young, we don’t go and say too much because it might come back to bite us in the backside,” Kersten said.
“We just leave it to our actions and try to play some good footy.”
Kersten said troubled midfielder Harley Bennell still had the full backing of the player group despite hitting the headlines yet again for the wrong reasons.
Bennell fronted Fremantle’s hierarchy on Tuesday in relation to his bizarre actions on Saturday while watching a WAFL game.
The 24-year-old twice interrupted the three-quarter time huddle of the match between Peel Thunder and Swan Districts to speak to his cousin Traye Bennell.
The club are yet to comment on whether they’ll hand down a punishment.
“We, as a playing group, are sticking by him,” Kersten said of Bennell, who was ejected from a Virgin Australia flight last month for being drunk.
“He’s one of our brothers.
“We’re not a club to go and hang our brothers out and leave them to dry.
“We’re fully behind him at the moment.
“He’s been in good spirits around the club the last few days.”
The Dockers (5-3) are on the cusp of the top eight after snaring five wins from their past six matches.
Kersten, who was traded to Fremantle from Geelong at the end of last season, struggled in the early rounds.
But he has hit his straps over the past three rounds, booting six goals during that period to cement his place in the forward set-up.
Macca
Guest
I was just about to suggest that - apparently they just don't like sharing. Not much in it really, just plenty of love for the blues and a good shout out to Bolton.
Liam Salter
Roar Guru
Typical - and rubbish - paywall blocking me from accessing that, Macca. Edit: a simple fix, though, is to copy & paste the headline into google and access the article through there. it seemingly negates the paywall if you click onto it through google.
Macca
Guest
Thought you might like this Mattyb - particularly the club that won't make the 8 but most buoyant about bits. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/more-news/herald-suns-afl-reporters-give-their-review-after-eight-rounds-of-the-season/news-story/6b7a34c65ad5b2ae4e7cfb9a4c4bf709
Dan
Roar Rookie
You were saying Kane?
Macca
Guest
Don, Don, Don - even when I put the exact conversation laid out in front of you, you still can not muster the ability to comprehend. If I was having a conversation with myself what are all the Don quotes in the above post? To make this even easier for you lets look at the very first post that spawned this "conversation" - "Isn’t sledging usually targeted at players from the opposition that pose a threat? Why would Freo target Murphy?" - Murphy's worth (ie his ability to pose a threat) is the topic being discussed, nothing to do with how great this years crop of Freo players are. You go on to discount Murphy's performance last year because "Last time he played against Freo’s thirds" but when challenged to find players missing who made the side "Freo's thirds" you can only find 2 that missed the game due to injury, so your argument falls flat. Now I know you have trouble admitting you have know idea what you are talking about and trying to change the topic and make snarky comments about me allows you to feel better about yourself but honestly mate it is time to admit the reality of the situation.
Don Freo
Guest
You're running a separate conversation with yourself. My comments are about this year's squad. last year was a totally different side...as indicated. You mistake 12 for 2. But that's you. If you don't read, you are only able to have conversations with yourself.
Macca
Guest
Don - I really should give you some credit because you actually did use the word decimated close to correctly given the dockers were only 2 players down in the Carlton game last years game against the blues - although it wasn't your intention. decimate historical kill one in every ten of (a group of people, originally a mutinous Roman legion) as a punishment for the whole group.
Macca
Guest
You really do struggle don't you Don - maybe if I post dirct quotes you will understand Don - "Isn’t sledging usually targeted at players from the opposition that pose a threat? Why would Freo target Murphy?" Macca - "Averaging more possessions, more inside 50’s more marks, more tackles & more rebound 50’s than Lachie Neale & Nat Fyfe this year" Don - "In a Carlton side. They are pretty useless encounters with the ball in the scheme of things." Macca - "He seemed to do alright with the ball last time out against you Don" Don - "Last time he played against Freo’s thirds. There are (probably) 10 or more personnel changes since that decimated side" Macca - "On that decimated side who exactly was missing?" Don - "Sandilands, Blakely, Hambling, Brad Hill, Langdon, McCarthy, Kersten, Hughes, Ibbotson… Fyfe, Johnson and Ballas were all injured in game early and went off, Johnno and Fyfe for the rest of the season. Neale and Spurr were also injured in the game" Macca - " you listed 12 players, 4 of which weren’t at the club last year, 2 played the entire game, 2 played the vast majority and 2 were available for selection just not picked. So your list must have been terrible if by removing Sandilands and Ibbotson it drops down to a thirds side." "On top of that if you are going to claim a vast improved side because of the new faces you have brought in, the blues could make the same claim – and given of the 7 new faces 3 of them are West Australian and a 4th is an ex fremantle player they must be high quality." Do you understand now?
Don Freo
Guest
Not even close. Have a read and don't bother with a reply.
Macca
Guest
Once again Don, you are confused by the most basic of things. To recap - you claimed Freo didn't have to worry about Murphy, I said he did very well against you last year, to which you claimed the blues were playing Freo third but when asked who your side was missing to make it a thirds side , you listed 12 players, 4 of which weren't at the club last year, 2 played the entire game, 2 played the vast majority and 2 were available for selection just not picked. So your list must have been terrible if by removing Sandilands and Ibbotson it drops down to a thirds side. On top of that if you are going to claim a vast improved side because of the new faces you have brought in, the blues could make the same claim - and given of the 7 new faces 3 of them are West Australian and a 4th is an ex fremantle player they must be high quality.
Don Freo
Guest
Huh? None of that makes any sense.
Macca
Guest
It should also be noted Don that there were 7 players in the blues side last week that didn't play in the side that beat Freo last year.
Macca
Guest
So Don, you are saying that your list last year was so bad that basically the loss of Sandilands made you a thirds side? And Fyfe must have had quite a game before he went off "early" did he rack up all those 15 possessions before quarter time? And Johnson was even better grabbing 19 possessions "early"? When you 12 consists mainly of players who weren't on your list at the time and players who actually played most of the game your argument is weak even for you.
Don Freo
Guest
Just to be clear, players who did not play that game and will this week include: Sandilands, Blakely, Hambling, Brad Hill, Langdon, McCarthy, Kersten, Hughes, Ibbotson... Fyfe, Johnson and Ballas were all injured in game early and went off, Johnno and Fyfe for the rest of the season. Neale and Spurr were also injured in the game...and you only won in those circumstances by one crooked kick. There's 12 for you. You needn't be waving around that game as any claim to fame.
Liam Salter
Roar Guru
SMH - huh? ungrateful? whaaaat?
Don Freo
Guest
Yep...that's been confirmed.
Macca
Guest
AD - yeah I think it should be pretty close, I am not confident enough to suggest we will win but we generally go alright in Perth and as I said elsewhere the fact the dockers aren't a high scoring side plays into our hands a little. If we can keep it close you blokes must surely have run out of great escapes this year.
Liam Salter
Roar Guru
Same with Freo in recent weeks! Guess neither of our teams need our very best players to dominate to win, we need our collective teams to perform well, yeah? Luckily for us, both our teams have been performing (relatively) well in recent weeks, so this should be a good game.
Don Freo
Guest
2015?...I've heard of paper cuts but you need to beware of straw cuts. So Murphy outplayed Dawson and Mayne... This is our best squad ever...better than 2015. You are just not reading.
Macca
Guest
AD - when you watch the blues play you see it is all about the collective.