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Opinion
Fremantle Dockers finished season 2021 in 11th place on the AFL ladder, two points ahead of the Richmond Tigers.
Freo finished one win outside the top eight and a fair amount of percentage below what they needed to feature in the finals in season 2021.
Along with the Tigers, the Dockers only had four players who played every game in season 2021: David Mundy, Caleb Serong, James Aish and Travis Colyer. That’s a fair enough excuse for missing out on the top eight.
The likes of Nathan Fyfe, Andrew Brayshaw, Matthew Taberner, David Mundy and Sean Darcy are already consistent performers you know what you’re going to get from. Remarkably, they won the two games that Andrew Brayshaw didn’t play in during season 2021.
The Fremantle Dockers will be boosted by their acquisition of Jordan Clark from the Geelong Cats and Will Brodie from the Gold Coast Suns in the off-season. Hopefully, Joel Hamling will return from injury to the Dockers defence in season 2022.
Rory Lobb must improve on his consistency in season 2022 if his side are to feature in the finals in season 2022 and hopefully be fit and available for selection as he only played 13 games in season 2021.
Lobb averaged the second most goals of any Fremantle Dockers player, with an average of 1.54 goals per game in season 2021. He kicked multiple goals in five of the 13 games that he played, which he could improve on.
It was remarkable that on the five occasions that he had 17 disposals or more, the Fremantle Dockers won four of the games – that clearly indicates he needs to average more than 12.92 disposals per game.
A big part of his game he needs to improve on is goal kicking accuracy, which could well decide how Fremantle go in season 2022.
Rory Lobb could be on his way back to GWS. (Photo by Daniel Carson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
James Aish may have featured in all 22 games for Freo in season 2021, but he failed to finish in the top ten of the best and fairest, which isn’t acceptable. He averaged the seventh-most disposals of any Fremantle Dockers player, with an average of 18.82 disposals per game.
Aish didn’t use the footy well in season 2021, with an average disposal efficiency percentage of 71.47 per cent per game, which meant that he butchered the footy a bit. The spotlight won’t be on him as he isn’t regarded as a key player for the Fremantle Dockers by experts, but he has the potential to be an important player if he plays to a level that he is capable of.
He has played 38 games in two seasons at the Fremantle Dockers, which he will be looking to build on in season 2022. He is 26 years old; it’s a career defining season for him.
Caleb Serong is a talented player and played reasonably well in season 2021. finishing fourth in the Fremantle Dockers best and fairest, as a pivotal part of the Fremantle Dockers midfield. Unfortunately, he averaged the fifth-most turnovers of any Fremantle Dockers player in season 2021, with an average of 3.86 turnovers per game, which he will need to improve on.
Serong is a player with so much potential, but he needs to endeavour to perform to his full capability in season 2022 if the Fremantle Dockers are to finish in the top eight. He will need to benefit from Andrew Brayshaw and/or Nat Fyfe being tagged and win more of the footy, and, as mentioned earlier, use the ball better.
He will want to average more score involvements as he averaged the ninth-most score involvements of any Fremantle Dockers player with an average of 5.27 score involvements per game. He needs to be in at least the top five with regards to this stat in season 2022 if they are to be in contention to play finals.
Luke Ryan may have played 19 games and missed three games due to injury, but he still finished sixth in the Fremantle Dockers best and fairest in season 2021 and was a key part of their back six. In the three games he missed through injury, the Fremantle Dockers lost all three: in Round 7, Round 8 and Round 9 to the West Coast Eagles, Brisbane Lions and Essendon Bombers respectively.
Ryan averaged the most metres gained of any Fremantle Dockers player in season 2021, with an average of 508.79 metres gained per game. His disposal efficiency was also impressive with the second highest average disposal efficiency per game of any Fremantle Dockers player in season 2021, with an average of 85.50 per cent disposal efficiency.
If the Fremantle Dockers are to play to their optimum level in season 2022, they’ll need Luke Ryan to at the very least be in the conversation with regards to featuring in the AFL All Australian squad for season 2022.
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