Anything and Everything Fremantle
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Freo’s forward focus
Dec 5th
After missing out on securing Mitch Clark in Trade Week, Fremantle knows unearthing a second tall forward is crucial in 2012.
The 24-year-old accepted a lucrative offer from Melbourne, despite first declaring he only wanted to play for Freo.
The club is now focused on developing a player within its ranks to assist skipper Matthew Pavlich, who has been earmarked for a permanent forward role next season.
“Jack Anthony and Kepler Bradley and, depending on the match committee, probably a resting ruckman,” assistant coach Peter Sumich said when asked who the preferred options were.
When asked if young ruckman Zac Clarke would fulfill the role, Sumich replied: “At the moment we’d probably class [Clarke] more as a forward but Zac hasn’t been on the track yet and has to keep working through that process.”
Sumich hoped Pavlich, who increased his midfield presence in 2011, could lengthen his career with a return to the forward line.
Barlow looks to recapture best form
Dec 4th
Fremantle revelation Michael Barlow remains certain he can regain the form that had him in line for a Brownlow Medal in just his first season of AFL football.
Barlow has been back training with the Dockers for four weeks on an extended rehabilitation program, with aims of rejoining the main group in a fortnight.
The 23-year-old returned in Round 13 this year after recovering from a horrific broken left leg suffered 17 months ago in Fremantle’s win over Port Adelaide.
Rookie Tom Sheridan ready for Freo future
Dec 4th
Could Tom Sheridan be the next Paul Hasleby?
A natural athlete with clean hands, excellent vision and good disposal, Freo’s first round pick in this year’s draft has some similarities with the 208-game Dockers great.
Both players had a basketball background, which Sheridan said helped in the heat of the midfield battle.
“Basketball has been a sport I’ve played all my life and it definitely helps with your decision-making and team orientation,” he said.
De Boer eyes inside mid role
Dec 2nd
Matt de Boer is hoping a full pre-season and improved fitness levels can help him become the inside midfielder he wanted to be at the start of last season.
The 21-year-old said an interrupted pre-season leading into 2011 meant he couldn’t get himself to the level he needed to be at to play in the position.
“I was hoping to play an inside midfielder role but my fitness levels weren’t there,” he said.
“Hopefully this year I can take it up another level and step in there.”
The back-to-back Best Clubman winner at Fremantle has fully recovered from a medial ligament injury sustained on his knee late last season and is set for a full 2012 pre-season campaign.
Always one to put the team ahead of himself, de Boer said that if he could slot into Freo’s midfield in 2012, he’d be more than happy to see his teammates get all the credit if it meant a victory for Fremantle.
Lyon making his mark
Nov 30th
Fremantle captain Matthew Pavlich says coach Ross Lyon’s hard-line approach has the majority of the list fitter at this stage of the pre-season than ever before.
Pavlich, 29, said Lyon had implemented “different philosophies” developed in previous roles at St Kilda and the Sydney Swans, and demanded dedication from his players over their summer break.
“He asked for extraordinary effort and to live every moment as if it’s our last,” Pavlich said on Wednesday.
“He holds everyone in the footy department to account and he outwardly expresses that to you guys (the media) and the public, and he does the same in our four walls at the footy club.
“All of the players were given pretty clear indications of where they needed to get from Ross and the strength and conditioning guys, and there were some high expectations of how we presented back off the break.
2011 Christmas Party
Nov 29th
The Fremantle Dockers invite all their members and supporters to the 2011 Christmas Party at Fremantle Oval this Saturday 3 December.
Join the players for a fun-filled afternoon to celebrate the festive season.
All junior members are invited to participate in a giant footy clinic with the players, including KidZone’s Hayden Ballantyne and his teammates. Gates open at 4.00pm before the footy clinic gets underway at 4.30pm sharp.
You can then pull up a picnic blanket and get your singing voices tuned for a fabulous night of carols, a great opportunity to celebrate the spirit of Christmas with family and friends and celebrate the festive season with the Fremantle Dockers.
Then get ready to light the sky with a fantastic fireworks display!
Gold coin donation entry proudly supports the Fremantle Dockers’ Community Goals.
Dawson: My best footy is ahead of me
Nov 29th
Former St Kilda defender Zac Dawson, who has moved to Perth with the hope of starting a new career with the Fremantle Dockers, says his best football is ahead of him.
“As a slow maturer, my body is starting to fill out now and I’m quite confident the next two or three years will be my best footy,” he said from Fremantle Oval on Tuesday.
During 2011, the 25-year-old, who played in 77 games for the Saints including three Grand Finals, had been identified by Fremantle recruiters as a possible pick up in the NAB Pre-Season Draft, which will be held on 13 December.
Dawson said a phone call from his former coach Ross Lyon helped convince him to pack his bags and head out West.
“Ross and I have had a pretty good relationship throughout my career – he gave me another chance at St Kilda,” Dawson said of being rookie-listed by the Saints in 2008 after Hawthorn had delisted him in 2006.
“He gave me a call and said ‘are you willing to move across to Fremantle?’.
Dawson looks to drop anchor with Dockers
Nov 28th
While Fremantle unveiled their new AFL draftees on Monday, the focus was more on the training track as former Hawthorn and St Kilda defender Zac Dawson took another step closer to becoming a Docker.
Dawson, who has played 77 games in the top tier, was told at the end of this season that there was no room for him at the Saints, where he played in losing grand final teams in 2009 and 2010.
Former St Kilda coach and new Fremantle boss Ross Lyon is a big admirer of the 25-year-old fullback and taking him in next month’s pre-season draft on December 13 is near certain.
Fremantle’s senior development coach Simon Lloyd is hopeful the move will progress smoothly and he can make a big impact in the west.
“There’s no guarantees, but Zac wants to be a Fremantle player. His girlfriend is looking for work here and he is settling, so we’ll see,” Lloyd said.
“As that tall type of defender, he was part of our list-management strategy and obviously Ross has a fair window of knowledge into Zac Dawson.
“It’s something that hopefully will come to fruition in the coming weeks. Hopefully he ends up a Dockers player.”
Freo unveils new recruits
Nov 28th
Fremantle unveiled the newest five members of its squad at Fremantle headquarters today, with the club’s 2012 draftees joining senior development/assistant coach Simon Lloyd in a media conference.
The three South Australian and two Victorian youngsters, who all now call WA home, handled the cameras and the questions with confidence and understated poise.
Victorian Tom Sheridan, the 16th pick in the National Draft, said he was honoured to be a Fremantle Docker.
“It’s a great club,” he said.
“I can’t wait to get on the track and start training.
“It’s a dream come true to get on a list and come to such a good club.”
Sheridan’s father, Brian, was on Essendon’s list when he was a teenager, but his career was cut short after he broke both his legs in a car accident.
“He went back but the surgeon said any more knocks and he’d be crippled by the time he was 40 or 50.
“It’s an inspirational story for me.”
Whispers about Sheridan spot on
Nov 28th
Living at Riddells Creek, on the very north-western tip of Melbourne’s metropolitan area and hence the very north-western tip of the Calder Cannons zone, Sheridan had been overlooked in their 14s and 15s squads.
But one trial match at under-15s level changed all that, as the Cannons’ development manager Len Villani explained yesterday.
“Tommy is a good story,” he said. “He comes from a unique pathway, initially anyway.
“He was overlooked as a 14 or 15-year-old and we have a game where we look at the best of the rest, if you like, in the under-15s.
“We got a bit of a whisper about a kid from Riddells Creek and we played him in this game and he was just an absolute standout.
“We ended up bringing him into our playing squad and from there the rest is history now.”
