As a Dockers supporter, I have tried to forget what happened last weekend…
Just to re-cap, Fremantle Dockers suffered a 100-point battering at the hands of top-of-the-table Adelaide Crows. Sigh… They can’t blame the absence of Aaron Sandilands. They can’t blame the severe downpour of rain during the game. They can’t blame the fact that Adelaide is on top of the ladder and the game was at Adelaide Oval… I mean- all of those things probably had some kind of impact however, none of those reasons can justify a 100-point loss. (In my opinion). The Dockers didn’t come to play, the Crows were the much better team on the day and showed why they are genuine finals contenders.
There are not a lot of positives to take away from last week so let’s just focus on the upcoming game this week against Collingwood. Fremantle take on the Pies at Domain Stadium on Sunday and will be looking to bounce back in front of the Freo faithful. Ross Lyon is set to become the longest-standing Fremantle Dockers coach this weekend, passing Chris Connolly with 129 games.
Lyon has made a couple of changes to the line-up this week to face the Pies, some great news is that the big man Aaron Sandilands is back in the squad! He joins fellow inclusions Ed Langdon and Luke Ryan, Ryan will make his make his debut for the Dockers. Danyle Pearce has been omitted, with Garrick Ibbotson, Tommy Sheridan and Jon Griffin named as emergencies . Matt Taberner hits a milestone this week, playing his 50th game.
Collingwood have also made some changes in the lead up to this weekend with the inclusion of Callum Brown, Jackson Ramsay, Ben Crocker, Henry Schade and the ‘American Pie’ Mason Cox. They come in for Alex Fasolo who is unavailable due to personal reasons and Jarryd Blair who has been omitted. Collingwood will be looking to get three consecutive wins in a row after coming off a big win over the Lions last week.
I think Ross and the Dockers will have had a good, hard look at what went wrong last week and will have worked on resolving any issues. The Sandilands-Fyfe combo will hopefully pick up from where it left off and the usual suspects such as Lachie Neale, and the Hill brothers (Stephen and Brad) will get their groove back. Keep an eye out for Michael Walters and Connor Blakely, both have been putting in the hard yards in their roles in recent weeks and I think they will have a good game on Sunday.
I am tipping the Fremantle Dockers to beat Collingwood by 19 points!
Let us know your #AFLFreoPies predictions at @TweetPerth @EmmaPaynes
