Michael Barlow's top 10 Freo players of the decade. This is a great read and quite funny
Sitting at home starved of football this week, I came across something that brought up happy memories — Anthony Morabito frolicking up and down the wings of the recently-demolished Subiaco Oval.
Just like the 2020 AFL season, it was a sight we fleetingly admired, but was too quickly taken away from us before we were truly ready to say goodbye.
With that vision, and a certain goal against Hawthorn, playing again and again in my mind, it led me to thinking about the best Fremantle players I’ve seen since joining the club.
But before I get started on my top 10 Dockers of the past decade, it’s a fellow Mandurah product I will make my most sincere apologies to in advance … sorry Hayden. If you were in the room to fight your way into this list, you’d be in.
10. Lachie Neale
Lachie Neale makes Michael Barlow’s top 10 for the decade.
Lachie Neale makes Michael Barlow’s top 10 for the decade. Credit: TONY MCDONOUGH/AAPIMAGE
For Fremantle fans it seems a travesty that his best football will be spent in the Sunshine State. A country kid taken at pick 58 (an example Ross Lyon would always pass on to new young and impressionable draftees from year to year) with a knack of finding the football in close quarters, the sight of his precision handballs putting smooth movers like the Hill brothers and David Mundy into space will long be remembered. A sign of his determination included two-a-day runs over an off-season after some not-so-subtle advice from his senior mentor that the rear of his shorts may have been carrying a touch more than desired.
9. Chris Mayne
Like Neale, has his best football come in alternate colours? Perhaps, but what I will never forget was his relentless forward pressure that would suffocate opposition ball users and allow Fremantle to play a front-half game. As unselfish as they come on the green grass, I’ll always remember his desire to not let the team down when under a high ball, quoting “I’d rather wake up in hospital than be reviewed on a Monday for pulling out of a contest”.
8. Michael Johnson
After cementing his position across half-back, there was nobody more reliable at floating across to support the dour operators such as Luke McPharlin and Zac Dawson (the ultimate teammate). I always wondered quietly why Johnno kicked the ball holding it right at the point of the Sherrin? Despite its unconventional nature it rarely missed a man in purple. His explanation: “it has less time from hand to foot”. A true visionary, now I think about it.
7. Stephen Hill
All the tricks with ball in hand, referred to as a “mule” via foot by Ross Lyon (I’m still seeking clarity about what this actually means). However, it was his work without the ball which truly left an impression on me, always selflessly picking up the tagged player when he broke the clutches of Ryan Crowley or making a two-on-one when he was a marked man for the opposition come game day. If anyone had the right to not do these things, it was Stephen, but he never took the liberty. It would be remiss of me not to recall ‘that goal’ in Geelong where he glided from the interchange gates across the blades of grass as if they were springboards to complete the most memorable goal in Fremantle history.
6. Michael Walters
From outcast to masterclass. This man has made all around him so proud in his path from the brink of expulsion to a Freo favourite. Who would have thought this is the same bloke that broke every possible rule on a 2011 pre-season camp in Margaret River? Hats off to you Son Son.
5. Aaron Sandilands
As loyal a man as you will encounter … even if he did bury me six feet in mulch in his backyard at an end-of-season refreshment day. I may have had it coming. Sandilands was probably the Dockers’ most important player on a week-to-week basis. He gave Fremantle a decisive advantage through his aerial dominance. You can see the evidence in the fact he holds the most impressive winning percentage of any Docker.
4. David Mundy
David Mundy made it to number four on Michael Barlow’s top 10 Dockers for the decade.
David Mundy made it to number four on Michael Barlow’s top 10 Dockers for the decade. Credit: JULIAN SMITH/AAPIMAGE
Smooth, durable, classy and an unwavering leader. A clutch finisher, something we’ve seen not once but twice (we will avoid the Geelong miss here). Barra loves the anonymity he affords he and his family and would not raise an eyebrow publicly. Unless it was for his often criminal fashion choices involving flannelettes, Billabong boardshorts and joggers.
3. Luke McPharlin
It was hard for me to exclude him from the number one discussion — I pondered, and pondered hard. Only on one occasion did I see him beaten convincingly in his position and I couldn’t quite believe it when it happened (round three, 2013, for those interested). On the day in question, as is usually the case when defenders are disgruntled, he kindly told us that “the mids could have put a bit of pressure on… that would be nice”. A true gentleman who would often provide a laugh at the expense of team mates whilst singing a yearly review and strumming his guitar. I could stop there but the man’s jawline is one to truly envy … moving on now.
2. Matthew Pavlich
A photo finish was fitting, but it was Pav missing out by a …..... lip, we’ll call it a lip. The man who educated everyone at Fremantle about the meaning of stoicism (in particular the school drop-outs in the front row, Sandilands and Ballantyne), he lived it to his core and it remains an absolute privilege to have been led by and to have played alongside a man who immortalised himself as a legend in the port city. An argument could be made either way.
1. Nat Fyfe
One and two may have been the other way around until I went to the match committee chairman and close who made some not-so-subtle points about how he’s not finished yet. But two Brownlow medals, one in a losing year, speak for themselves. Perhaps my reluctance came from that one time he nearly opened blows against me at training... but it was nothing that an all-expenses trip to the 2015 Brownlow ceremony couldn’t make up for. To me, Fyfe will always be the man that grits his teeth hardest when the going gets tough in a willing contest. Despite all of the weekly attention physically and tactically, he continues to drive the Dockers forward towards that elusive premiership
With only replays to watch, the mind turns to nostalgia, and Barlow has delivered many a story about the players he ran out alongside.
