HOORAY for Thursday night footy! It feels like the weekend has come early!
Fremantle Dockers take on Collingwood at Domain Stadium tonight at 6.10pm in what I assume will be an epic clash. Collingwood face their biggest test of the season against top of the ladder Fremantle, who will be refreshed after having a week off. Fremantle welcome back Chris Mayne and Matt de Boar, and Matt Taberner has been dropped. (Maybe Ross Lyon read one of my reviews about Taberner…)
Collingwood have been in impressive form, winning their last four games. Dockers have come out a little flat in their last couple of games so it will be interesting to see which team steps up to the mark tonight.
The Magpies have lost their last three games at Domain Stadium and the last time these two teams met, Fremantle had a dominating win. However, I don’t think we should underestimate the Pies this time around.
In 2015, Collingwood are number one in the competition for contested possessions AND marks inside 50. Jamie Elliot, Travis Cloke and Jesse White are marking machines in the Pies forward so it will be interesting to see how Fremantle’s back line addresses these key players. The stats are very much in Collingwood’s favour.
Another two big players to watch out for in tonight’s game are Freo’s super star Nat Fyfe and the Pies captain Scott Pendlebury. They are currently ranked 1st and 2nd on the Official AFL Player Ratings, Pendlebury leading with 672.3 points with Fyfe catching up to him swiftly on 656 points.
Can Fyfe take the crown? He has undoubtedly been the most dominant player this season, polling 90 out of a possible 110 votes so far in 2015 for the AFL Coaches Award, a huge 29 votes clear of Sydney Swans Dan Hannebery who sits in second place.
It’s game day! Here’s all the information you need for tonight http://t.co/rcmaNHn6yM #AFLFreoPies #foreverfreo pic.twitter.com/WWZSWUkwIM
— Fremantle Dockers (@freodockers) June 25, 2015
#AFLFreoPies Prediction:
My prediction is that Fremantle will come out firing after having a week off and get the job done against the Pies. I think Fyfe will be dominant in the midfield (as always) along with Lachie Neale and the experienced David Mundy and the boys will take the win by 19 points. Fremantle skipper Matty Pavlich is due for a big goal scoring game, tonight may be the night!
