Here we go with Freo’s top-5 most important players.
The top 3 really chose themselves, but 4 & 5 required a fair bit of thought.
See if you agree….
1. Matthew Pavlich
No surprises here, and now that he’s going to be playing up forward, he becomes more important than ever.
2. Aaron Sandilands
Without him, Freo are relying on Keplar Bradley and Zac Clarke.
I (and many more I assume) consider him to be the second best ruckman in the competition. His around the ground work is also very underrated, especially in the way that he uses himself as a link man. A useful trait considering Freo’s thin midfield.
3. Chris Tarrant
Last year he pretty much turned himself into a gun backman in my eyes.
His importance was never more evident in the game against Brisbane last year in which Freo were keeping up with Brisbane, with Tarrant holding Jonathan Brown at bay.
When Tarrant went off for a brief moment after looking like he injured his knee, Brown took advantage and kicked a bunch of goals to take ascendancy of the match. Soon after Tarrant returned and kept Brown quite, but the damage was done.
A rock in the backline.
4. Ryan Crowley
They really missed this guy last year. What they lost when he was injured was bite’ around the packs.
Given the number of youngsters Freo will have in the midfield this year, his presence will be vital.
He’s not a bad tagger as well…..
5. Stephen Hill
This may be a little bit forward of me to place him in this list but he showed enough to me last year to lead me to believe that he’ll be darn good player.
He has one thing that many other Freo players don’t have. Pace, and lots of it. Without him, Freo’s midfield becomes a lot worse and after adding 8kgs to his body, he should be ready for a full season.
Tags: Aaron Sandilands, Chris Tarrant, Matthew Pavlich, Ryan Crowley, Stephen Hill
Stay Up-to-date
Never miss a big story again by subscribing to us by RSS, email or twitter.
