Today Fremantle tomorrow Geelong

B: Ryan, Pearce, Chapman

HB: Clark, Cox, Young

C: Aish, O'Meara, Brodie

HF: Schultz, Fyfe, Walters

F: Jackson, Taberner, Frederick

FOLL: Darcy, Serong, Brayshaw

IC: O'Driscoll, Banfield, Walker, Switkowski

Reserves

B: Hughes, Hamling, Benning

HB: Wilson, Davies, Williams

C: Worner, Erasmus, Wagner

HF: Sturt, Treacy, Corbett

F: Henry, Amiss, Emmett

FOLL: Reidy, Colyer, Johnson

IC: Kuek, Draper, Knobel, N\A

Fremantle also have a spot for a train on.

Pretty good team on paper. Not so great for the death-riding.

Oh boy here we go, everyone's favourite 44 to deathride shotgun with. 

Freos best looks Garbage, my tip for a huge tumble down the ladder this year. MUNDY is a HUGE loss for them🤯

They have a lot of good youth.  I tip Amiss, Henry and Erasmus to come through this year

They were 2 points off 2nd spot this year. They'll push for top 4 again

If Jackson doesnt kick 40 plus goals they will be be mid table. Shades of MFC in 2019. Lost a key forward and even though have a young midfield group, they wont find the goals to save themselves.

Simply not enough marking talent forward of centre. Ding Dong seems to think Jackson was played out of position and he should be up forward. If he's right (or Taberner has one out of the box)  they'll be ok.

But if he's wrong, a team that couldn't kick 10 goals in a game nine times last year aint going to be lighting up score boards.   7th to 12th  and top 10 draft pick here we come. 

They were ranked about 12th in scores 'for'.

They're nowhere near a flag until they can improve their scoring output.

 

4 hours ago, Jjrogan said:

If Jackson doesnt kick 40 plus goals they will be be mid table. Shades of MFC in 2019. Lost a key forward and even though have a young midfield group, they wont find the goals to save themselves.

Simply not enough marking talent forward of centre. Ding Dong seems to think Jackson was played out of position and he should be up forward. If he's right (or Taberner has one out of the box)  they'll be ok.

But if he's wrong, a team that couldn't kick 10 goals in a game nine times last year aint going to be lighting up score boards.   7th to 12th  and top 10 draft pick here we come. 

Dogga isn’t kicking 40 plus

9 hours ago, picket fence said:

Freos best looks Garbage, my tip for a huge tumble down the ladder this year. MUNDY is a HUGE loss for them🤯

Didn't finish in the top 10 of their BnF. Not that huge a loss.

That starting line-up looks just about right - but I'm unconvinced with Fyfe playing as a key forward - but that doesn't mean he won't start the season there.

The draw – according to AFL.com Freo have the equal hardest draw, a tough gig for a side that didn’t even make a Prelim.  They have double ups against the Lions, Cats, Swans and Dogs with only the Hawks and Eagles providing some respite.  Thanks to the ‘gather round' they also have 11 trips on the road as opposed to the previous 10, but they do get back to back games in SA to make it easier.  The back end of the fixture will determine their fortunes with four of their last 6 at Optus, but that includes Sydney, Brisbane and Port with a trip to GMHBA thrown in for good measure. 

Initially I’d factored Freo into my top four calculations based on the back of their outstanding 2022 defensive effort where they gave up 1486 points.  (In comparison the other top three defensive teams were us 1483 points and the Cats, 1488 points).  There’s no love at the bookies though.  Sportsbet has them =9^th with the Dogs to make the top four at $15.00 and =9^th to make the top eight at $1.91… hmmm what am I missing?

1. Well the first thing I’m missing is that Freo don’t score very heavily as @Bring-Back-Powell noted they ranked 12^th last year and they just lost their leading goal scorer to the Dogs.  Are they going to miss him? I’m going to say no- firstly because he’s called Rory Lobb and secondly he only kicked 36 goals anyway – that ranked him 29^th in the Coleman.  They simply have to find more avenues to goal.  They need Treacy or Amiss to improve in a hurry, because we all know that Dogga isn’t a key forward at this stage of his career.  The smalls in there are wonderful at putting on pressure and the defensive aspects, but they simply don’t kick enough goals to make up for the lack of scoring power from their KPFs.  Schulz is probably the best (30 last season), but they need more out of Switkoski (11 from 14 games) and Sonny (25 from 21 games).  I can understand why the brought in Josh Corbett – trouble is he averages less than a goal a game – I’d be calling for a test of his B samples if he got more than 2 goals a game consistently. 

2.  Well there’s not much to say about their defence.  It’s superb and they seem to have all bases covered.  If you want anymore evidence, a premiership defender and someone I consider quite a useful KPD in Joel Hamling couldn’t crack it for more than a single game last year…. Nothing to worry about defensively from the Dockers.

3. Nor do I think there are too many concerns for them through the midfield with maybe the exception of the wings.  Darcy and Jackson in the ruck looks better than OK, Brodie, Brayshaw and Serong through the middle and probably dual Brownlow medallist Nat Fyfe as well if he doesn’t make it as a forward.  O’Meara comes in to take over Mundy’s midfield minutes – so nothing to see there either.  The wings though are an issue.  I’m not convinced Liam Henry is actually a gut running winger.  I think they’ll give the jobs to Aish and O’Driscoll to start with, but may need to push a Jordan Clark or Hayden Young up there to provide some coverage as well.  

4.  Do they miss Logue, Acres and Lobb?  Well two of them (Logue and Lobb) were top 10 in their B&F and they played 20,20 & 21 games respectively – so they were all key components of their best 22 – so yeah they probably do. Even if they’ve got guys like O’Meara and Jackson they think will play 22 games when available – it’s not exactly like for like.  They also have Erasmus, and Sturt champing at the bit to get their opportunity.  They’re crossing their fingers their former skipper can be turned into a KPF, but I think that’s wildly optimistic – I think if he was going to be any good as a key forward he would have already – just my view though. 

The player they can least afford to lose – well no surprises that it’s Matt Taberner.  They need him to play a full complement of games this year – it’s absolutely crucial.  I mentioned Treacy and Amiss – too early to consider them serious planks in the KPF structure.  The issue is though that Freo supporters can hope Tabs plays 22 H&A games, but they have no right to expect it.  After 10 seasons he average only 11.6 games a season and the most he’s ever played is 17 (2016).  If he’s sitting in the medical rooms again for an extended period the people at Sportsbet are probably on the money (as bookies usually are).   

I think they will suffocate sides at home – can they win on the road – yes, but they probably don’t kick a big enough score to beat the better sides away from Optus.  I’ve revised my prediction and have them 6^th. 

Edited February 17, 20232 yr by grazman

I’m death riding this mob all the way….

I'm predicting top 8 but their forward line stops them from finishing top 4.

I was impressed with how well Amiss performed last year coming in for the last 2 or 3 games. I think he might surprise a few as he certainly has tricks. He's still pretty lean though so I'm expecting inconsistency and a bit of wilting as the season progresses. I don't know enough about Treacy to comment but it'll be interesting to see if he can step up. Taberner had a stinker last year mainly as a result of injury, but sadly for him, I'm not sure he'll be able to string a season together. Jackson's not likely to be the answer yet and Fyfe is clapped out. I get great amusement from watching Walters. If things don't go his way, he completely loses sight of the game and chases frees. Longmuir drummed that out of him last year for the most part, but I'm hoping it returns in 2023. He's also not getting any younger.

The rest of the side is easily top 4, particularly if they can fill the wing hole with O'Driscoll or the Frederick to the wing experiment works.

O’Driscoll will play wing all year. he will be a gun in a couple of years. showed exciting signs last year

On 12/5/2022 at 12:46 AM, WERRIDEE said:

Today Fremantle tomorrow Geelong

B: Ryan, Pearce, Chapman

HB: Clark, Cox, Young

C: Aish, O'Meara, Brodie

HF: Schultz, Fyfe, Walters

F: Jackson, Taberner, Frederick

FOLL: Darcy, Serong, Brayshaw

IC: Henry, Banfield, Hughes, Switkowski

Reserves

B: Wilson, Hamling, Benning

HB: Walker, Davies, Williams

C: Worner, Erasmus, Wagner

HF: Sturt, Treacy, Corbett

F: Colyer, Amiss, Emmett

FOLL: Reidy, O'Driscoll, Johnson

IC: Kuek, Draper, Knobel

Revised best 44 for Fremantle