Expected Finish – 10th -12th
Actual Finish – 14th
6 Wins and 16 Losses
It was another development year for the Dockers with Mark Harvey blooding a massive 11 youngsters although injuries also played their part in this as they were forced to face most of the year without the likes of Palmer, Crowley, Johnson, Headland and Mayne.
The year was littered with shocking performances, mostly away from home, but some good wins at home, with the 2 derby victories and the Carlton win in Gold Coast being the season highlights.
Backline
As bad as the Fremantle backline was (letting through an average of 102pt’s); they managed to find a gun fullback in Chris Tarrant. As far as success stories come in AFL this year, he is definitely one. With excellent games against the likes of Brendan Fevola, Jonathan Brown and others, he has really established himself as a very good fullback. The emergence of Paul Duffield and Greg Broughton were highlights as well.
Still, the absence of Roger Hayden and Luke McPharlin (who played mostly in the forward-line) really hurt the defence, particularly away from home where their experience was missed. (Previously) Highly rated backman David Mundy had a very disappointing season which hurt as well.
Midfield
The midfield was hamstrung before the start of the season after losing its best performer from last year Rhys Palmer with a knee-injury and due to that, it forced Matthew Pavlich to play there for most of the year.
They also added Matt De Boer and Stephen Hill into the midfield with very good results.
De Boer gives them bite, and will do better when Crowley comes back to help him, and we all know how good Stephen Hill is; he has potential “A-grader” written all over him.
The biggest problem the midfield and the team had all year was its skills.
In terms of skills, Freo would have to be one of the worst teams in the competition. Until they work on that problem, they are going to continue to struggle.
Forwards
The forward-line was a bit of a mess, mainly due to other compounding reasons though.
The loss of Pavlich to the midfield, meant that the forward-line lacked good quality all year long and it showed, by only averaging 79pt’s with scores as low as 28 and 13 against some teams.
Luke McPharlin was placed there most of the year and a forward, he is not. Ryan Murphy kissed his career goodbye with some shocking performances, and there was no Chris Tarrant because he turned out to be a better backman than he is a forward.
Still, the delivery coming in most times was pretty bad, so any player playing there was always up against it. And the emergence of Clancee Pearce and Hayden Ballantyne who look to be real finds were massive positives.
Rucks
Fremantle pretty-much have the best ruckman in the competition in Aaron Sandilands who lifted his game to a new level, particularly around the ground where he averaged 17 possessions.
He is the only realistic chance Freo have for All-Australian honours this year which say’s it all.
Raw youngster Zac Clarke, who is new to the game came in and looked okay. He has at least 3 years of good development in him before anyone knows whether he will be any good though due to his weight and inexperience.
Kepler Bradley had a very disappointing year as a back-up for many games.
Looking Forward
The only way for Fremantle is up in my opinion.
With 40 players on the list used this year, and low expectations, the year was good in a way that they took the short-term pain for long-tern gain.
An elite-skilled midfielder is an absolute must for the Dockers with pick number 4 this year if they are going to develop into a good team in the future. Sticking with Mark Harvey is another must as well.
He his building something good.
Player needs for next year
Don’t be fooled by their poor forward-line this year; another gun-midfielder is a must given the lack of class through there.
Anthony Morabito anyone?
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