Dockers wary of wounded Swans ahead of SCG prelim
Fremantle will not take Sydney lightly in Friday night's preliminary final at the SCG, coach Justin Longmuir insists, even with the Swans missing star players.
The Dockers start as warm favourites on the road. The prize is big. A win sends Fremantle to only its second AFL grand final, the end-of-season decider for the premiership.
That favouritism comes with a warning. Sydney just beat reigning premier Brisbane by 53 points in a qualifying final, piling on 141 points to earn the week off and a home prelim, according to ABC News. A qualifying final is the first week of finals for top teams. Win it and you skip straight to the last four.
Sydney did it the hard way. The club stood down Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, James Jordon and Riley Bice after an off-field incident at a Melbourne hotel, now referred to as the Pullman Hotel scandal. Chairman Andrew Pridham said the stand-downs had effectively torpedoed Sydney's season.
Then Sydney won anyway. The Swans beat North Melbourne days after losing the five players, then beat Brisbane. They lost captain Callum Mills to a season-ending knee injury during that Brisbane win.
Fremantle's path was bumpier. The Dockers lost their qualifying final to Hawthorn, then kept their season alive with a 14-point semifinal win over Geelong. A semifinal is sudden death. Lose and the year is over.
Longmuir said his side will not be ambushed by Sydney's pressure and physicality, per AFL.com.au. Pressure means tackling and chasing to force turnovers. Physicality is the contest work, the bumps, tackles and hard ball gets.
Selection could help Fremantle. Defenders Brennan Cox and Brandon Walker are pushing for recall ahead of the SCG trip. Longmuir spoke ahead of a video interview published by the club titled 'We will give ourselves a great chance', via Fremantle FC.
The logistics are set. Fremantle is due to fly to Sydney on Wednesday. Both clubs name their teams on Thursday.
For fans, this means a strange matchup. Fremantle has the favourites tag away from home. Sydney has the form, and the SCG, but not the full list. The Swans have already shown they can score heavily without their big names. The Dockers have to stop that run to keep their Grand Final shot alive.
