Adelaide vs Fremantle
Sunday 20th March 2022
Adelaide Oval
1:10pm
Sunday 20th March 2022
Adelaide Oval
1:10pm
I understand from Tonga Bob there are a number of new awards for previews this year. Let me tell you I am feeling quietly confident.
The awards where I think I am a strong chance are:
- 2022 Best preview of an away game in March
- 2022 Best preview by a person who is obsessed with knitting
- 2022 Best preview by a person who thinks Brennan Cox should be played forward
After loading up this preview I will be busy for some time polishing my acceptance speeches, knitting my outfit for the awards' night and plotting how to get JLo to see Brennan as the forward we need.
Last Time They Met
2021 Round 5 Adelaide Oval Dockers 12 12 84 Adelaide 11 6 72
Adelaide’s form was quite good leading in to this match and Tex was in great form. We won the midfield battle, Andy, Dave and our captain all good on the day, Luke Ryan great down back and a big 4 goals from Tabs.
Line-ups
The Dockers have a good level of availability although there are a number of unknowns. Wilson is unavailable. Fyfe’s situation is unknown at the moment. Sturt, Treacy, Aish are unknown due to lack of fitness/match play and Lobb and Tucker are unknown due to injury although the club seemed to intimate Lobb is probably okay. If Lobb and Treacy were both unavailable we would look small up forward other than that we cover the unknowns well enough, except for Fyfe, of course. I expect Lobb and Aish to play.
Adelaide is without Tex, Laird (who won their club best and fairest last year) and Seedsman.
This Week’s Battle
Like the Dockers, Adelaide are rebuilding and field a fairly young, inexperienced team. They won 7 games last year to our 10. Two of their wins came against top 4 teams in Geelong and Melbourne, a bit unbelievable really. Interestingly, Seedsman and Laird were their biggest possession winners in the win over Melbourne, Laird again their biggest possession winner against Geelong with Tex kicking 5. This all bodes well for us I guess.
The Crows played well early in their preseason match against Port, but ended up going down by 6 goals. Rachele was their highest goal scorer with 3.
The Crows lost their clearances, on average, last year and we won the clearances on average. They lost the contested ball, on average, but by a bit less than us. They scored more than us over the year (so what’s new), although we had more scoring shots and inside 50s (so what’s new).
As ever, the midfield battle will have a big influence on the game. If Fyfe plays I expect we can win that, without Fyfe I certainly hope we can break even at least. I hope our Sean has blown out the cobwebs after a forgettable game first up last Sunday.
Our defence should be able to get on top of their forwards, if not then we are not in for a good year.
Their key defenders are inexperienced and if Tabs and Lobb (if he plays) are worth anything they should do well, bringing smaller players into the game. Smith and Doedee are very good mid sized defenders for them. I want to see what Freddie can do with his new found forward craft, and I want him to kick straight.
Prediction
It is a match we need to win, if we want to be in any kind of final’s contention. We should win as long as we convert our chances adequately.
Dockers 9 13 67
Adelaide 8 8 56
DRAGONS FFC 
