Archive for September, 2012

Friday night’s semi-final loss to Adelaide was a tough ending to Fremantle’s encouraging finals campaign, but it could prove the final act in a pivotal season in the club’s history.

On the back of the team’s finals heroics it’s easy to forget Freo’s September dreams were circling the drain with the club sitting 13th on the ladder after round 14 on the back of five losses from six games.

Ross Lyon and his game plan were subjected to some intense scrutiny before a stirring fightback in the second half of the season saw them fall about 10 points shy of participating in a preliminary final.

Fremantle won nine of 10 games, including an upset elimination final win against Geelong, before stumbling against the Crows.

Ruckman Aaron Sandilands agrees the performances in the second half of 2012 will give he and his teammates plenty to work with next year and beyond, but the final sting in the tail of the season may prove to be the biggest spur.

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David Mundy is adamant Fremantle did not drop away in the second half of tonight’s 10-point Semi Final loss to Adelaide that ended the club’s season.

After leading by as much as 29 points in the first half, Freo couldn’t match it with the Crows in the end.

Mundy said Freo were simply outplayed and refused to blame any tiredness associated with the club’s short turnaround going into the game.

“We didn’t fall away,” he said.

“The boys fought it out all night, which was great.

“We lost a little bit of organisation in the second half and we weren’t as composed with the ball as we would have liked.

“The Crows opened us up with their ball movement, especially in the second half, and we just weren’t able to match them.”

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Fremantle’s third finals win in the club’s 18-year history was undoubtedly its best.

The seventh-placed Fremantle faced one of football’s biggest tasks – an in-form Geelong at the MCG in the first week of the finals.

Many had tipped the Cats to be the genuine premiership contender outside the top four but Fremantle put paid to that idea with the first seven goals of the game.

It was a watershed moment for Fremantle and for coach Ross Lyon who couldn’t have arrived at his new club with any more scrutiny and pressure.

Not that Lyon was going to buy into any of the hype that is sure to come Fremantle’s way.

“At the end of the day this is a final. We’ve finished seventh and we’ve come and won one final. There’s no coming of age, this is about one week and one final,” Lyon said.

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