Anything and Everything Fremantle
Posts by DockerNow.com
Cats’ experience counts for nothing
012 years
by DockerNow.com
in News
Fremantle coach Ross Lyon says Geelong’s experience and success in finals will count for nothing in Saturday night’s elimination final at the MCG.
The Cats have won three premierships in the past five seasons and beat a less experienced Fremantle by 69 points in the club’s last finals appearance in 2010.
Since 2007, Geelong has won 12 of 15 finals including the 2007, 2009 and 2011 Grand Finals, and the reigning premiers have been installed as strong favourites for Saturday night.
Lyon, however, wasn’t concerned by the Cats’ edge in finals experience and said Fremantle would focus on playing the football that has seen it win eight of its past nine games.
“Fortunately the past counts for nothing to be frank,” Lyon said on Monday. “When the ball is bounced we all start equal.
Compromise? No chance.
012 years
by DockerNow.com
in News
Anyone who thought the Fremantle Dockers were going to give anything but their best against Melbourne on Saturday night obviously had not been listening to a word Ross Lyon said throughout 2012.
Many outside of the club believed Freo could have ‘managed’ the round 23 result to get an elimination final at home against West Coast, as opposed to travelling to Melbourne to face defending premiers Geelong, which the side will do at the MCG on Saturday night.
But that would have gone against all the values Lyon has instilled into his team.
On a weekly basis, the word ‘effort’ bobs up in his pre and post-match media interviews.
The senior coach always demands his players give “100 per cent effort, 100 per cent of the time”.
“We’re an anywhere, anytime team”, he said leading up to the match against Melbourne last week.
We have no fears: Walters
012 years
by DockerNow.com
in News
Michael Walters says facing reigning premiers Geelong at the MCG in an Elimination Final holds no fears for the Fremantle Dockers.
There was much media speculation that Freo would have been better off playing West Coast in Perth, rather than travelling to play the Cats, but Walters said he and his teammates didn’t care who they faced.
“Geelong’s a good team but we’re going to take our best team over there and, no matter what, try and win,” he said.
“As long as we stay in the moment, we’ll be alright.”
Walters said the side was focussed on giving its best effort against Melbourne last Saturday night to hit the finals in good form.
“We didn’t want to drop off,” he said.
“Geelong, and all the good teams, they stay in the moment no matter who they play.
Price you pay: Lyon
012 years
by DockerNow.com
in News
Fremantle key defender Luke McPharlin is unlikely to play any role in his team’s finals campaign after suffering a right hamstring injury against Melbourne on Saturday night.
The important backman, who has been in All Australian form, was ruled out of next Saturday night’s elimination final against Geelong at the MCG and is in doubt beyond that.
He pulled up when changing direction early in the third quarter and was substituted immediately with coach Ross Lyon confirming the injury on Saturday night.
Lyon said McPharlin would have been a candidate to be rested against Melbourne if the club had chosen to manage players, but he had no regrets about selecting the veteran.
“You pay a price and you move on and you get going,” Lyon said after Fremantle’s 61-point win, which left it in seventh spot.
Now for Freo’s real D-day
012 years
FREMANTLE 3.5 7.7 11.14 14.17 (101)
MELBOURNE 1.3 2.5 4.8 5.10 (40
GOALS
Fremantle: Ballantyne 3, Griifin 2, Mzungu 2, Pavilich 2, Sandilands 2, Walters, Mundy, Mayne
Melbourne: Fitzpatrick 2, Blease, Jones, Sellar
BEST
Fremantle: Mundy, Fyfe, Sandilands, Duffield, Ballantyne, Barlow, Mzungu
Melbourne: Grimes, Sylvia, Trengove, Fitzpatrick
INJURIES
Fremantle: McPharlin (hamstring)
Melbourne: Nil
SUBSTITUTES
Fremantle: Tom Sheridan replaced Luke McPharlin in the third quarter
Melbourne: Josh Tynon replaced Sam Blease in the third quarter
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Farmer, Dalgleish, Leppard
Official crowd: 32,687 at Patersons Stadium
Tom set to realise a family dream
012 years
by DockerNow.com
in Miscellaneous
It’s fitting that tomorrow night at Patersons Stadium, on the eve of Father’s Day, Tom Sheridan will finally realise a dream that has been on hold in his family for 35 years.
In 1977, Tom’s dad Bryan was a promising teenager trying to break into Essendon’s VFL side via the reserves.
But on a fateful Brownlow Medal night that year, his dream was cruelly shattered when he was a passenger in a car that crashed into a light pole.
Bryan Sheridan’s injuries meant he had to give up footy or risk being crippled later in life.
“He wasn’t able to pursue his dream of playing footy and he never played a senior game,” Tom said.
“It’s always been in the back of my head.”
After finding out he’d be running out with Fremantle to play Melbourne on Saturday, the first person Tom called was his dad.
“He’s pretty proud that I’m going to achieve that this weekend,” Tom said.
From other guy to Son Son of a gun
012 years
by DockerNow.com
in Miscellaneous
It’s Sunday night in the Virgin lounge at Melbourne airport.
Fremantle has just thrashed North Melbourne to qualify for the finals and most of the victorious players are hanging together in groups.
One player, however, has wandered off on his own to the other end of the lounge, where he is engaged in a conversation with an Adelaide Crows supporter. Seeing a racehorse screensaver on his fellow traveller’s laptop, the player asks whether his new acquaintance is involved in the racing industry and, when the answer comes back “yes”, is eager to ask about life in and around the sport of kings.
The Freo Line-up: round 23
012 years
by DockerNow.com
in Team Selections
Fremantle has made three changes for Saturday’s match against Melbourne at Patersons Stadium with captain Matthew Pavlich and debutant Tom Sheridan headlining the inclusions.Jon Griffin also returns to partner Aaron Sandilands in the ruck after Kepler Bradley could not be considered because of concussion.
Matt de Boer is out with an ankle injury, while Zac Clarke has been omitted.
Freo assistant Simon Lloyd said he expected de Boer to be available for the club’s first final the following weekend.
“Matty will be no worries at all,” he said.
“He was touch and go to come in this week but he should be right next week.”
Lloyd said Sheridan, the club’s top pick from the 2011 National Draft, would acquit himself well after some solid WAFL form had helped earn him a crack at AFL level.
Defence force
012 years
by DockerNow.com
in News
Suggestions from opposition clubs that Fremantle is the hardest team to play against this season is proof the side is heading in the right direction under Ross Lyon, according to defender Garrick Ibbotson.
Fremantle is ranked No.2 for scores against this season (behind the Sydney Swans), and North Melbourne forward Drew Petrie said Freo was the toughest team he’d faced following the Kangaroos’ 53-point loss on Sunday.
Ibbotson, who will play his 100th game this Saturday night against Melbourne at Patersons Stadium, said comments like Petrie’s reinforced Fremantle was on track as it prepares for finals.
“To have someone like that say something like that about us really shows that we’re moving in the right direction,” Ibbotson said on Wednesday.
“That’s something we want to make sure we can continue and obviously build on.
Brett Kirk joins Fremantle
012 years
Sydney premiership player Brett Kirk will join the Fremantle Dockers as an assistant coach for the 2013 season.
Kirk worked with Fremantle senior coach Ross Lyon and stoppages coach Mark Stone when both were at the Swans.
Widely regarded as one of the most courageous and resilient players to have ever pulled on the boots, he played 241 games for Sydney since making his debut in 1999, including the last 200 without missing a match.
Co-captain of the Swans from 2005-2010, Kirk is a highly decorated and respected figure, whose list of achievements include a 2005 AFL Premiership win, All-Australian selection in 2004 and Sydney best and fairest in 2005 and 2007.
In 2011, he spent six months travelling the world and spreading the word about football as the AFL’s International Ambassador.
Kirk said a two year stint out of football helped him rediscover his passion for the competitive side of the game.
