- Aug 20, 2010
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Welcome to the 2023 season of the Australian Football League, the long and tedious pre-season is finally over, however, St Kilda and Fremantle fans have the longest to wait for some much needed catharsis.
Match Details
1:40 PM WST at Marvel Stadium
Fremantle currently strong favourites with the bookies.
Last Time They Met
Round 17 2022, St Kilda hosted Freo at Marvel Stadium. Tensions were high with the St Kilda crowd, with their team on the cusp of the eight there was desperation for a quality performance that would signal a return to finals football. This game can be summarised as follows: BOOOOOOOO, BOOOOOOOOO, BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, gt absolutely fkd Matt Stevic, BOOOOOOOOO, you're a campaigner Stevic.
The eloquent crowd let umpire Matt Stevic know they disagreed with some of his decisions, particularly a holding the ball call denied when Jordan Clark got a toe to the ball while being tackled, which was soon followed a correct HTB call against Brad Hill, followed by Dan Butler politely telling Umpire Stevic what he thought of his umpiring, leading to a momentum swing to Fremantle.
The game in all its glory is reviewed here:
A fairly sad game for the Sainters as their team was just awful in the second half and they needed to take out their frustrations on the umps:
Fyfe, Brayshaw, and Darcy were huge in a game where Freo was rocked by the late out of Alex Pearce. This was also the first appearance of Lobb's bleached blond hair, a memorable moment. Tom Highmore was particularly effective for Fremantle, with his precision skills directly leading to at least three goals for Fremantle.
The Teams
The saints could be without up to ten (!) of their first choice players, it's not ideal as Ross Lyon would say. But they'll want to become an anywhere, anytime team right?
A possible team:
B: Webster, Howard, Battle
HB: Sinclair, Wilkie, Wanganeen-Milera
C: Wood, Steele, Hill (rock?)
HF: Gresham, Membrey??, Phillipou
F: Owens, Caminiti, Higgins
FOL: Marshall, Crouch, Clark
I/C: Bytel, Butler, Cordy, Stocker
Potential but unlikely: Windhager, Ross, question marks on Membrey.
Fremantle on the other hand enter the game at near full strength, with a B22 never being harder to predict:
B: Walker, Pearce, Ryan
HB: Young, Cox, Clark
C: Henry, Brayshaw, Aish
HF: Frederick, Fyfe, Jackson
F: Sturt, Taberner, Schultz
Fol: Darcy, Serong, O'Meara
I/C: Brodie, Switkowski, Treacy, Chapman
Sub: Hughes/Johnson/Banfield
Unavailable: Nathan O'Driscoll (fitness), Walters (Achilles). Frederick of course remains under a quad strain injury cloud, but I'm predicting he gets up, if fit, he plays. If Walters is fit then Sturt will get pushed out.
Tactics and Strategy
This will likely be a game of Freo playing their natural game with St Kilda putting their efforts into taking that away from them, a strategy forced on them through player unavailability. With a makeshift forward line vs. arguably the best defense in the game, St Kilda will find scoring difficult. Fremantle will look to play aggressive at the centre bounce to score before the Saints have the opportunity to get men back. The secondary avenue to goal will be turnovers, and they'll look to slingshot through Young and Clark should the opportunity present. Forward half pressure will be crucial, and this was where ascendancy was gained for Freo last time they met, with skill errors from the Saints out of defense leading to multiple goals.
Windhager will tag Brayshaw if he plays, and Fyfe will be a tough match up, with Wilkie likely to get first go at stifling the champ.
The Result
Freo could not have fixtured St Kilda at a better time and while Round 1 can dish up strange things, it is difficult to see anything but a win for Fremantle eventuating. Fremantle by 45 points, Fyfe to kick four.
Match Details
1:40 PM WST at Marvel Stadium
Fremantle currently strong favourites with the bookies.
Last Time They Met
Round 17 2022, St Kilda hosted Freo at Marvel Stadium. Tensions were high with the St Kilda crowd, with their team on the cusp of the eight there was desperation for a quality performance that would signal a return to finals football. This game can be summarised as follows: BOOOOOOOO, BOOOOOOOOO, BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, gt absolutely fkd Matt Stevic, BOOOOOOOOO, you're a campaigner Stevic.
The eloquent crowd let umpire Matt Stevic know they disagreed with some of his decisions, particularly a holding the ball call denied when Jordan Clark got a toe to the ball while being tackled, which was soon followed a correct HTB call against Brad Hill, followed by Dan Butler politely telling Umpire Stevic what he thought of his umpiring, leading to a momentum swing to Fremantle.
The game in all its glory is reviewed here:
A fairly sad game for the Sainters as their team was just awful in the second half and they needed to take out their frustrations on the umps:
Fyfe, Brayshaw, and Darcy were huge in a game where Freo was rocked by the late out of Alex Pearce. This was also the first appearance of Lobb's bleached blond hair, a memorable moment. Tom Highmore was particularly effective for Fremantle, with his precision skills directly leading to at least three goals for Fremantle.
The Teams
The saints could be without up to ten (!) of their first choice players, it's not ideal as Ross Lyon would say. But they'll want to become an anywhere, anytime team right?
A possible team:
B: Webster, Howard, Battle
HB: Sinclair, Wilkie, Wanganeen-Milera
C: Wood, Steele, Hill (rock?)
HF: Gresham, Membrey??, Phillipou
F: Owens, Caminiti, Higgins
FOL: Marshall, Crouch, Clark
I/C: Bytel, Butler, Cordy, Stocker
Potential but unlikely: Windhager, Ross, question marks on Membrey.
Fremantle on the other hand enter the game at near full strength, with a B22 never being harder to predict:
B: Walker, Pearce, Ryan
HB: Young, Cox, Clark
C: Henry, Brayshaw, Aish
HF: Frederick, Fyfe, Jackson
F: Sturt, Taberner, Schultz
Fol: Darcy, Serong, O'Meara
I/C: Brodie, Switkowski, Treacy, Chapman
Sub: Hughes/Johnson/Banfield
Unavailable: Nathan O'Driscoll (fitness), Walters (Achilles). Frederick of course remains under a quad strain injury cloud, but I'm predicting he gets up, if fit, he plays. If Walters is fit then Sturt will get pushed out.
Tactics and Strategy
This will likely be a game of Freo playing their natural game with St Kilda putting their efforts into taking that away from them, a strategy forced on them through player unavailability. With a makeshift forward line vs. arguably the best defense in the game, St Kilda will find scoring difficult. Fremantle will look to play aggressive at the centre bounce to score before the Saints have the opportunity to get men back. The secondary avenue to goal will be turnovers, and they'll look to slingshot through Young and Clark should the opportunity present. Forward half pressure will be crucial, and this was where ascendancy was gained for Freo last time they met, with skill errors from the Saints out of defense leading to multiple goals.
Windhager will tag Brayshaw if he plays, and Fyfe will be a tough match up, with Wilkie likely to get first go at stifling the champ.
The Result
Freo could not have fixtured St Kilda at a better time and while Round 1 can dish up strange things, it is difficult to see anything but a win for Fremantle eventuating. Fremantle by 45 points, Fyfe to kick four.
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