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Match Preview: Sydney v Fremantle
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Written by Shane Richmond
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 | The phrase "this is a big game for Fremantle" get’s thrown around a fair bit. Almost as much as "one of the best wins in Fremantle's history", "they've got some good young players", and "why’d he kick it there" but this week’s match against Sydney over at the SCG is a fair dinkum, genuine, honest to God big game for Fremantle. It's huge. |
| Fremantle need a few wins. They're sitting outside the eight but most experts agree they're primed to make their move towards September glory. Sydney need a few wins too, unfortunately for them they're days of participating in finals look well and truly behind them. Traditionally, Fremantle have headed over to Sydney with a fairly laidback attitude. The Swans have always seemed like a reasonable bunch, down on their luck over the years, keen to grow the game among the dim witted rugby watching hordes - and, of course, there's that Leo Barry mark. So, when the Dockers have made the trek to the SCG they've been happy enough to take half a side over there, catch a show in town and play along with Sydney's game of floodball which seems popular with the locals but an abortion to the rest of the country. But those days are gone. Sydney have done nothing for Fremantle to repay the favour. They won't come to WA to play at Subiaco Oval, they never let the Dockers win but worst of all they knocked Fremantle out of the Grand Final then lost it to the mob up the road - Freo would have smashed the bastards. | | So that's it. No more friendlies, no more happy families, Sydney may as well be wearing blue and gold as far as Fremantle are concerned. Forget what Robert Walls said, that Grand Final rematch in Round One was Evil v Evi with better drugs.
Fremantle have been planning for this week since October the first when it finally sunk in what Sydney had done. All the pre-season reports, Byron Schammer's 'appendix operation’, Jeff Farmer and Chris Tarrant's suspensions - all just part of a clever ruse to have the team cherry ripe for Round 13 and repay the Swans for their betrayal.
The basic strategy has been nicked off the yanks and dubbed operation Shock and Awe. A game against Sydney is usually the football equivalent of patting a cat. What's the point. You know the game is going to be boring. You know they are going to do their utmost to slow things down, bottle things up and suck the life out of the game. Watching footy in Sydney often makes you wonder if the two codes of rugby would actually be watchable if they'd originally been adopted by the so called Southern States. If they had a bit of room to run about in, maybe they wouldn't have gone crazy and started sticky taping their ears together, sticking their heads in places heads weren't meant to go and spending their time off the ground dressing up as women.
This is a side that gets into shoot outs with the Eagles, where a full forward is just the bloke who has eaten the most pies and a highlight is a globe that requires a step ladder to change.
This year Fremantle aren't going to indulge them in this nonsense. The late drinking, alpaca wool wearing, let's throw a fireworks display every day of the bloody week Swans supporters are going to get a taste of some real footy. Some action packed, thrill a minute, 'Oh my God did he really just do that' Fremantle style football. By the time the Dockers leave the SCG there won't be a Sydney toff left in the place with his monocle intact.
Everything will come together on Sunday when, for the first time, they stack the forward line with three of the most potent, exciting, attacking players ever to grace the football ground, one of which has been effectively kept on a leash for the past 3 months and at one point actually jumped clear of his skin last week and kicked a goal with just a skeleton.
They've loaded up in the sky with two of the three tallest players in the AFL. Aaron Sandilands missed the Carlton game with a groin injury he sustained bending down to bite the heads of swans in preparation. Warnock was smart enough to kill the swans with a giant skewer and eat them off the stick.
They've got a fresh and firing Byron Schammer joining forces with his mentor Peter Bell, in career best form, Paul Haslbey operating at Brownlow pace and the Carr brothers, who haven't been involved in a decent dust up all year, just so to keep their knuckles in good nick so they can punch Kennelly in the back of the head for good luck - and for fun.
Down back they have got the highest scoring defense in the competition, with Scott Thornton, Roger Hayden and David Mundy making themselves as much at home in the forward fifty as they are in the back. Even Shane Parker has been kicking goals. At a ground like the SCG, they'll be giving Pav a run for his money on the goal kicking gladder and taking pot shots from the defensive goal square.
If everything goes to plan, the Swans will be in tatters by quarter time. Paul Roos will have to forget everything he knows about football (not exactly a brain hemorrhage for Roosy) and have to try and use his team of half back flankers to actually do something with the football.
At that point the ground should open up a bit more and Sydney will realise why they need to play so defensive. Pavlich will order the troops out of his way, take to the SCG forward fifty like a six metre white pointer to Circular Quay, dobbing goals at will and occasionally waxing with Jeff Farmer just so he can take in the show himself.
Like 1979, it's set up to be one of the great moments in Fremantle football history. Pregnant women and the elderly might want to stay away.
The Teams
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