In the lead-up to the second clash between Adelaide and Fremantle this season, Crows coach Brenton Sanderson says Freo will be even tougher to beat this time around.
Adelaide left Perth with the four points after accounting for the Dockers by five goals in the most recent meeting of the two sides only nine weeks ago. But Freo have shifted up a gear since the round 10 match, winning their past five games.
Sanderson said the Dockers were showing the benefits of more time under new coach, Ross Lyon.
“Freo’s tough. They’ve only lost twice since we beat them last time, so they’re in really good form,” Sanderson said on Wednesday.
“Matthew Pavlich, Nat Fyfe, Stephen Hill, Michael Barlow and David Mundy … they’ve got some quality in their side. Maybe, the first time we played them this season they relied on too few in the midfield, but now they’ve got great depth through there.
“They’re playing more like Ross wants them to play now. We’ll certainly have to be at our best to beat them.”
The ninth-placed Dockers average more tackles per game (71.4) than any other team in the competition. They’ve also conceded the fewest points (1381) with the exception of Sydney (1252). Adelaide has conceded the fourth-least points (1504).
“Defence is really the trademark of the Freo team and they’re really difficult to score against,” Sanderson said.
“They frustrate you. They’re one of the best tackling sides in the competition, so they put a lot of pressure on the ball and don’t let you get a free-flowing game.
“They can make it quite ugly, which is fine. We’ve just got to adopt different ways to combat that. We can score quickly, which we showed on the weekend against Essendon, and our defence is pretty good to … so it’ll be a good contest.
“Freo are one of the sides looking to break into the top eight, so they’ll be hungry and we’ll certainly have our work cut out.”
Pavlich has played a key role in Fremantle’s steep upturn in form in the second half of the season.
The Coleman Medal leader has kicked 44 of his 55 goals this season in the past nine rounds. The South Australian-born forward slotted eight in his team’s win over West Coast last weekend.
Sanderson acknowledged Pavlich’s impressive form, but was confident the Crows had the defenders to thwart the Dockers skipper.
“Pav is red hot. We were watching some stuff (vision) on him (in our opposition meeting) today,” he said.
“He’s electric up forward, but we’ve got some good defenders in Ben Rutten, Daniel Talia and Sam Shaw, who will probably all get a look at him. We’ll try to find the right match-up on the day, but we’ve got three defenders who are in pretty good form and can certainly play that role.”
