Fremantle finally has some silverware for the trophy cabinet
Long-suffering Fremantle fans have often been on the receiving end of jibes about the empty trophy cabinet at Fremantle Oval, usually from those who support their cross-town rivals. Finally, though, the monkey is off the back. The victory over Melbourne secured Fremantle’s first major piece of silverware (Western Derby trophies aside) in the form of the McClelland Trophy, which has been awarded to the minor premiers each year since 1991. Of course, it's the premiership cup that the purple army really wants but, in the meantime, they can at least offer some sort of retort when they next cop a ribbing from Eagles supporters.
Melbourne has huge problems early in games…
In their past three AFL games, the Demons have kicked a grand total of one goal in the first quarter. Against the Western Bulldogs and Fremantle, they failed to boot a major the first term, while they fared slightly better in kicking one against lowly Carlton. In each case, the match was effectively over at quarter-time. It's hardly surprising that a club that has struggled for years should perform poorly during the first quarter, but parts of the Fremantle game felt more like a training drill for the home side than it did an AFL match. Paul Roos is going to have to find a way to stay with decent opposition early in the match if Melbourne is ever to return to the top eight.
… though the Dees were missing a few…
The above warning about Melbourne's first quarters aside, there is at least something for Demons supporters to look forward to in 2016. Debutant Oscar McDonald looked capable of becoming a league regular against Fremantle, while Rising Star contender Jesse Hogan is a superstar in the making. And, the team was seriously depleted against Fremantle given young gun Angus Brayshaw and key forward Chris Dawes didn’t play, Heritier Lumumba and Dom Tyson were out injured, the seasons of Cameron Pedersen, Christian Petracca, Jack Trengove and Aaron Vandenberg were already over and star midfielder Nathan Jones was subbed out of the game with an ankle injury during the second quarter.
It was a 200th game to forget for Melbourne skipper Nathan Jones. Picture: AFL Media
… and the squad doesn't run as deep as Fremantle
There is plenty of upside left in Fremantle this season. The Dockers' form hasn't been great in the second half of the year, but they have done enough to win most of the close ones and beat the lesser teams. Now, Ross Lyon can look forward to the return of a few senior players. Nathan Fyfe and Hayden Ballantyne are the most important of them. But there are also Fremantle's recalcitrants. Zac Clarke can return from suspension for the match against Port Adelaide, Alex Silvagni can play in Fremantle's second final and Ryan Crowley's drug suspension expires on September 25.
How many will Fremantle rest next week?
While Ross Lyon wouldn't want his team to cop a pasting against Port at Adelaide Oval, he would now feel fairly comfortable in leaving out a couple of his more established players for the game against Port Adelaide. This much became obvious when Matthew Pavlich was subbed out of the game against Melbourne during the third quarter and, a conspiracy theorist might suggest, by the decision to leave Michael Walters out of the team at the last minute. But Fremantle has a host of players they can bring into the side given the recent performance of their WAFL-aligned team, Peel Thunder. Among those who have performed well in recent weeks are ruckman Craig Moller, midfielder Brady Grey, and forward Max Duffy. Ed Langdon forced his way into the team for the match against Melbourne and may be retained, while Hayden Crozier and Paul Duffield have both been in and out of the Fremantle line-up in recent weeks.
