Preview Round 1 V Melbourne: The Meek Shall Inherit The Gawn

[DenieD]

Freo fans: We want to play finals!
Footy Gods: Patience. Your time will come soon enough.
​

One can only describe this pre-season as another fruitful injury riddled road that will once again put Fremantle in a position of weakness. But in this weakness comes strength, our youth has blossomed under the mighty JLO and we can finally breathe a sigh of relief for our backline depth. We stand before the almighty Mundy under the great banner that is our anchor to declare that we will not go silently into the night, we will not rest until our High Fyfe gets bestowed his greatest achievement of all; The Premiership Cup. But we shall not win this today, no, today is merely a stepping stone for what is to come, and come we shall. We will fight with Hughes in the sky and Cox in our hearts. We will Pearce through their defence, Conca their best players and while we may get Tucker'd out we will stand tall. We shall run a thousand Acres, climb 100 Cerra's, and we will put no foot Serong. As we travel down Watson we shall see our Ryan shimmer in the moonlight. Our Young are Henry for the future, as we are Hamling our way up the ladder. At the bars, our Taberner will always be full, as our Aish for Treacy's will never wither. Just to Brayshaw, we will always stand 1.5m away from our closest Blakely. For we are the Fremantle Dockers; we are the ones that make other teams say 'Hey, maybe they aren't that bad?' and we do them proud.

V
Saturday March 20th
10:45am (AWST)
MCG, VIC

Pre-season has come and gone and now we shall see what Longmuir's new game plan truly is after what was a difficult 2020. Melbourne are by no means a walk over, but for us to be serious at playing finals footy for the first time in 6 seasons, we need to start 2021 in the right way. Playing on the big stage at the MCG is a tough order for such a young side like ours, but I am sure the leadership of Nat Fyfe will help dispel any nerves we may have early on.

Last Time they Played:

The Cairn's catastrophe was where we took Melbourne's last glimmer of finals hope last season and flushed it down the toilet. The difference on the day was Sonny Walters who dazzled in the wet with 3 goals and Adam Cerra having a big day out with 30 disposals and a goal.

Melbourne 0.1 1.3 2.4 4.9 (33)
Fremantle 1.6 1.9 4.9 6.11 (47)

Goals
Melbourne: Hunt, Weideman, vandenBerg, Fritsch
Fremantle: Walters 3, Darcy, Cerra, Frederick

Best
Melbourne: Oliver, Petracca, Gawn, Viney, Fritsch
Fremantle: Walters, Serong, Cerra, Brayshaw, Mundy, Cox, Duman​

Walters will not play this time as he is injured , but Cerra is alive and should be all ready to put in another big performance. The big match-up that could decide the day is the rucks with big Max Gawn

11

Max Gawn

Age

32

Ht

209cm

Wt

110kg

Pos.

Ruck

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.1

4star

K

7.4

3star

HB

6.7

4star

CL

2.8

4star

HO

35.3

5star

D

18.5

4star

K

11.5

4star

HB

7.0

4star

CL

3.5

4star

HO

29.2

5star

D

8.4

3star

K

3.6

2star

HB

4.8

4star

CL

1.0

3star

HO

15.6

5star

likely to do battle with the inexperienced Lloyd Meek. If Meek can just not get absolutely smashed by Gawn then we are in with a good chance, as our midfielders in Brayshaw, Cerra, Serong, Mundy and Fyfe should come out on top in the contests. I have full faith in our defenders to stop any and all chances at goal, but obviously some may slip through the cracks from time to time. Our forward line has always been the problem with Taberner being our only legitimate tall forward option now that Lobb is injured, maybe it is time for Treacy to step into the spotlight. I don't have the team sheet so I'm just guessing.

Predictions:

I predict our midfield to dominate, Mundy to play like an 8th grade school kid, Taberner to kick a bag, and Fyfe to be back to his sexiest best.

Fremantle by 8

 

[Scham]

Us by 13.

 

[pK75]

Us by 13.

Us by 25 vic media to talk about all of Melbourne’s missing players all game.

 

[dazzledavey36]

Freo by 11

 

[Lach72]

Melbourne by 4-5 goals

 

[Snuffaluphagus]

I dont know, no offense Melbourne fans reading this, this all the hallmarks of a mid-season coach firing.

Think even with our injuries we'll win comfortably, Melbourne's injuries are just as bad and I dont know how they are going to score against our backline with no KPFs left and just a lack of firepower. If May doesnt get up we should win it easily IMO.

Also think for all the injuries from last week, the intensity of the game will do as well heading into round 1

 

[wayToGo_]

Looking at both forward lines it could end up the lowest score in AFL history.

 

[AlwaysFreo]

I think we should win but we’ve all that movie where we get absolutely slaughtered in the first quarter away from home. We’re going to need goals from midfielders and we’re going to need to keep them to a very low score. I could see us winning 60 to 40 if our backs and midfield play well. I’ll be hoping for big games from our young midfielders, thereby allowing Mundy and Fyfe to have an impact up forward. If Mundy and Fyfe kick three between them that will stand us in very good stead. Curious to see if we play Pearce up forward at any stage. And I’m presuming Meek plays so it’ll be interesting to see how he goes against Gawn. That will be a telling match up. I think we can win with 7 to 9 goals (maybe even 6 but I hope we score more than that). We need to avoid playing like absolute spuds in the first quarter. I’ll be riding every bump...

 

[theGav56]

I’d like to see Serong and Cerra get amongst the goals this season. Other clubs already know Fyfe and Mundy can kick them, but if the next generation start doing it that’ll rattle things.

 

[Scham]

I’d like to see Serong and Cerra get amongst the goals this season. Other clubs already know Fyfe and Mundy can kick them, but if the next generation start doing it that’ll rattle things.

Brayshaw regularly gets himself into good scoring positions too, just needs to convert a few.

 

[MadMundy]

Fremantle by 27, I reckon it's going to be a comfortable win. I don't rate Melbourne at all.

 

[Wilksyy]

I’d like to see Serong and Cerra get amongst the goals this season. Other clubs already know Fyfe and Mundy can kick them, but if the next generation start doing it that’ll rattle things.

And I want to see Brayshaw get on the board this season.

 

[theGav56]

Brayshaw regularly gets himself into good scoring positions too, just needs to convert a few.

If he can start kicking goals from the opportunities he gets he would be edging elite status. Such a determined player.

 

[bone2468]

Henry Dazzles Proves he’s a top 10 pick, Freo by 17

 

[sumavich]

Demons by a couple of goals, it'll be 6 goals to 4 goals.
I just can't see where our goals are coming from.
Last time we played them Sonny kicked 3, and he was the only multiple goal scorer for either team

 

[MadMundy]

Demons by a couple of goals, it'll be 6 goals to 4 goals.
I just can't see where our goals are coming from.
Last time we played them Sonny kicked 3, and he was the only multiple goal scorer for either team

Taberner, Treacy, Fyfe, Schultz and Switta will all chip in I reckon if they're named, we could easily kick a decent score so long as our midfielders have good delivery.

 

[Van_Dyke]

this could be the first nil all draw in AFL history

I dont know, no offense Melbourne fans reading this, this all the hallmarks of a mid-season coach firing.

Think even with our injuries we'll win comfortably, Melbourne's injuries are just as bad and I dont know how they are going to score against our backline with no KPFs left and just a lack of firepower. If May doesnt get up we should win it easily IMO.

Also think for all the injuries from last week, the intensity of the game will do as well heading into round 1

to be fair I think Melbourne supporters could say nearly the same about us minus letting the coach go (barely any KPFs left, lack of firepower).

 

[Bastyy]

As excited as I am for Serong to have his first 40 disposal effort, I'm quite excited for Trav Colyer's breakout game, with a 5 goal effort from the forward pocket

Freo by 60

 

[Bring back Drum]

I’ve thought all along 8 points, so will go with that.

This is the beginning of our march towards the flag in 2023* (first of multiple) with Lachie Neale

9

Lachie Neale

Age

31

Ht

178cm

Wt

84kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

27.0

5star

K

11.5

4star

HB

15.5

5star

M

4.0

4star

T

3.7

5star

CL

5.9

5star

D

28.3

5star

K

13.9

5star

HB

14.4

5star

M

4.6

4star

T

4.0

5star

CL

5.9

5star

D

12.0

3star

K

4.6

2star

HB

7.4

5star

M

2.0

3star

T

1.0

3star

CL

0.4

3star

sitting on the losers side watching our players collect their medallions thinking “what have I done?”

*I won’t knock one back in the next 2 years btw.

 

[mike91]

2 weeks ago I'd say us by 2 goals

But now....Melbourne by 2-3 goals

Gawn best on. Tabs will be double teamed by May and Lever all day.

On SM-G781B using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[pK75]

Tabs will be double teamed by May and Lever all day.

That will be Melbourne’s plan, I think it’ll come unstuck when Lever (who seems to be made of the same brittle substance as Sturt) floating back with flight of the ball to fill the hole in front of who he thinks is Tabs, discovers too late that it is actually Treacy steaming out of the goal square.
once they remove Lever’s crumpled body from the ground, Treacy (who to rub salt into the Ds wounds took the mark) goes back and slots the goal from 40m out and announces himself to to competition.
goodwin will then spend the rest of the game chopping and changing who May should try to stop and both Treacy and Tabs will end up with 3 each.

 

[Tonga Bob]

Awesome OP Den!

Us by a couple of kicks. Fyfe BOG, Mundy with multiple goals.

 

[GingerDocker]

Is it just me that thinks Mundy will not be an asset in the forward line?

If he's not on the ball I think his leg speed will limit his ability on the lead and he's not exactly a threat overhead.

Ok, now I feel dirty.

 

[Wilksyy]

Is it just me that thinks Mundy will not be an asset in the forward line?

If he's not on the ball I think his leg speed will limit his ability on the lead and he's not exactly a threat overhead.

Ok, now I feel dirty.

He’s been tried at HFF and doesn’t have much of an impact, so I agree with ya. Mundy will kick a bad playing mid.
Edit ffs, “bad” was meant to be “bag”

 

[theGav56]

Mundy forward is low risk, low reward stuff. He’ll draw a reasonable defender, which if our only tall forward is Taberner is useful, but he is about as likely to score from his midfield work anyway. Play him midfield pushing forward to find mismatches rather than going up against a key defender.