Anything and Everything Fremantle
Miscellaneous
Late bids for unsigned Ryder
May 20th
By SportsNewsFirst
Gold Coast and Fremantle could make late bids to win the playing services of Essendon big man Paddy Ryder.
Gold Coast is believed to have sights on securing a gun power forward while Fremantle is understood to have Ryder as a fall-back option if the Dockers fail to win the race to sign Collingwood colossus Travis Cloke.
Dockers management has made clear intentions to lure a power forward since a desperate bid to win former Brisbane big man Mitch Clark failed at the last minute during controversial trade dealing last October.
Michael Walters closing on AFL return, says Swan Districts coach Greg Harding
May 16th
Swan Districts coach Greg Harding believes Michael Walters is not far from a return to AFL football with the Fremantle Dockers.
The enigmatic forward, down for the much of the first three quarters in the Swans’ WAFL clash against Subiaco on Saturday, turned on his talents in the final term.
Walters had seven kicks and four marks, including a screamer over the top of the opponent who had his measure for much of the day, Kane Bloxsidge.
Pav cements place as top Docker
May 14th
Matthew Pavlich yesterday became the first Fremantle player and only the 51st ever in VFL/AFL history to kick 500 goals.
Although it didn’t need that milestone to confirm his status as the best Docker of all time, it was a nice dollop of cream on the cake.
Michael Malthouse got people talking last week after appearing on Channel Seven and ranking his five most influential” West Coast Eagles of all time.
Of course naming Fremantle’s best half dozen or so is a much easier exercise.
Unfortunately for fans and a succession of coaches the Dockers depth has run far less deep since their arrival in 1995.
Unlike West Coast, where even the number one spot is hotly disputed by as many as five or six stars, Pavlich’s six Best and Fairest awards are like a rubber stamp to his being número uno in Freo’s galaxy.
AFL clarifies stance on sliding
May 11th
The AFL has written to all 18 clubs to outline and clarify the position around rough conduct and “sliding into contests”.
AFL General Manager Football Operations Adrian Anderson said the AFL and the Laws Committee had last year identified sliding into contests as an emerging tactic in the game and had notified all clubs in its pre-season DVD of its concern around the potential for serious injury to players.
Anderson said the practice had increased in prevalence through the early part of the 2012 Toyota AFL Premiership Season and the medical advice to the AFL was that the potential for serious injury to players would continue to rise.
All clubs were today provided with formal correspondence from Anderson, with some of the points including a reminder of the 2012 Laws DVD, which was presented to all AFL clubs earlier this year, that referred to sliding as an emerging dangerous tactic with the potential to cause serious injury.
Sliding a grey area: Tendai
May 9th
Fremantle midfielder Tendai Mzungu admits players still view sliding as a “grey area” after teammate Greg Broughton was cleared by the AFL Tribunal on Tuesday night.
Broughton successful challenged a rough conduct charge after he slid to win possession of the ball and injured Gold Coast midfielder David Swallow at Metricon Stadium last Saturday.
The decision to clear Broughton, who won possession of the ball before making contact with Swallow, follows the tribunal’s decision to clear North Melbourne’s Lindsay Thomas of a similar charge in round four.
Mzungu said players were working through what was acceptable after the Match Review Panel initially offered Broughton a reprimand for the slide.
“It’s still a little bit of a grey area, but we’re working really hard to learn the rules and what the procedure is there,” Mzungu said on Wednesday.
Dockers in the hunt for duck season
May 8th
Fremantle coach Ross Lyon says it is time for rivals to study West Coast’s games and practise the techniques the Eagles are using to draw high tackle free kicks.
Lyon last night said he had barely watched the Eagles this year because he had been focusing on upcoming opponents, but couldn’t ignore the publicity that West Coast’s free kick count was getting.
“The technique is a good technique,” Lyon told 6PR.
“You’ve just got to get low in the tackle and drive.
“I like the technique that Selwood and those guys have perfected.
“It’s a bit about if you can’t beat them join them so I think the rest of the competition will catch on quick and then get low in the tackle.
“No arm tackles, tackle full body and then they won’t be able to slip off you.
“I haven’t watched much West Coast at all to be honest because they haven’t come across my radar. But I am noticing what all the other coaches are saying.
Extra time for Suns-Freo
May 6th
The AFL has launched an investigation into an apparent time clock blunder in the dying minutes of Saturday’s thrilling Gold Coast-Fremantle game at Metricon Stadium.
The apparent error came with 7:55 remaining on the clock in the final term, with Gold Coast leading the match 81-76.
After a ball-up in the middle of the ground, the clock remains on 7:55 for 39 seconds.
There was no scoring in this period.
Fremantle won the match by seven points after a goal from Tendai Mzungu with a second remaining.
Gold Coast football manager Marcus Ashcroft and a Fremantle spokesman said their clubs were unaware of the apparent error when contacted by AFL.com.au on Sunday morning.
But AFL spokesman Patrick Keane said on Sunday the League was aware of the incident and was investigating.
Dockers, Eagles reserves plans collapse
May 4th
West Coast and Fremantle’s bid to have reserves teams in the WAFL is on the verge of collapse after the State league clubs refused to endorse the proposal to introduce a bye model next season.
At least six WAFL clubs remain vehemently opposed to a concept that would see them play 18 home-and-away rounds a season as well as four virtual scratch matches against Eagles and Dockers reserves teams.
WA Football Commission chief executive Gary Walton presented a draft paper to the nine WAFL presidents this week and remained confident that the clubs would not reject it out of hand.
But as Fremantle chief executive Steve Rosich said introducing a Dockers reserves team “remained a strategic priority”, several WAFL presidents were adamant that the concept was not worth pursuing and should be abandoned.
Cloke unmatched, says Richo
May 3rd
Champion Richmond forward Matthew Richardson has anointed Collingwood spearhead Travis Cloke as the best forward in the game.
On AFL.com.au segment The Whiteboard, Richardson points to a number of weapons Cloke has in his arsenal by dissecting footage of the Pies star from the Anzac Day clash against Essendon.
AFL.com.au tracked Cloke throughout the Anzac Day clash with a camera following the burly forward’s every move for the duration of the match.
“He’s undoubtedly the best contested mark in the game,” Richardson says.
“He always has his arms fully extended and takes the ball at its highest point.
“He’s an absolute man mountain.”
Dream Team Wrap: Tag team
May 3rd
While Toyota AFL Dream Team is all about accumulating possessions, tackles and goals to contribute to your ultimate total, there’s another side to the game that coaches need to pay closer attention to.
Some players out there are quietly performing their roles for the team, but at the same time ruining your Dream Team’s score.
They’re the kind of players you’d never consider putting into your DT because they don’t score as well as the star fantasy players.
But if you’re not wary about whom they might be lining up on in the weekend’s game, these players might cost you valuable points or, worse yet, cause you to lose your league game.
Two such players at Freo are Ryan Crowley and Adam McPhee.
While he’s perennially voted by teammates as the most likely to look at himself in the gym mirror, Crowley’s shutdown efforts this season have been nothing short of brilliant.
