Mid Season Report Card

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Arkhitect

Bleeding Purple
Jun 11, 2013
576
2,424
AFL Club
Fremantle
With the bye next week, it's probably a good time to review Freo's performance as a whole over the first 11 rounds. Use the format below to score the club on to-date performance, as well as where you think Freo will be situated at the end of the home and away season.

Current report card:
Grade:
Most influential player of season to date:
Best win:
Worst loss:


End of season/predicted report card:
Win/loss record:
Will Freo make finals?:
Will Ross Lyon coach the club in 2020?:
Will Freo have any All-Australian's in 2019? If so, who?:


Rationale:


Current report card:
Grade: B
Most influential player of season to date: Brad Hill
Best win: Freo vs. Lions - round 10
Worst loss: Freo vs. Suns - round 2

End of season/predicted report card:
Win/loss record: 14 wins/8 losses
Will Freo make finals?: Yes
Will Ross Lyon coach the club in 2020?: Yes
Will Freo have any All-Australian's in 2019? If so, who?: Yes - Fyfe, B. Hill, Walters, Ryan

Rationale:
Currently sitting on a record of 6-5 at the halfway mark of the season - only two games shy of our final win result last year. Rousing victories against top four sides in GWS and Collingwood away from home, coupled with the level of competitiveness the team has shown in all of their games this season, prove that the club has finally turned the corner. Poor losses in winnable games to sides like Essendon and Gold Coast are the only thing that has stopped Freo from receiving an A grade.

Freo's defence, lead by Hamling and Pearce, has been a revelation this year, and is a big reason for our turn around in fortunes. However, I'd argue that our ability to move the ball forward effectively and close scoring gaps when we're behind has been just as important, and Brad Hill is the biggest reason for that. In my mind he's the best winger in the competition, he never stops running, and he creates so many forward movements with his speed and ability to cut up opposition zones.

With a softer draw in the back half of the season, I'm tipping Freo to return to finals for the first time since 2015 - although this could now hinge on the availability of Alex Pearce after today's ankle injury. Ross Lyon will coach to 2020, and will receive a contract extension with the return to finals.

Freo will have four All-Australian's in 2019, with Walters, B. Hill, and Ryan claiming their first AA honours.
 
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poshman

Norm Smith Medallist
Oct 13, 2006
6,430
7,839
Perth
AFL Club
Fremantle
Current report card:
Grade: B
Best player of season to date:Fyfe
Best win:tie GWS/COLL
Worst loss:GC


End of season/predicted report card:
Win/loss record: 13/7
Will Freo make finals?:yes
Will Ross Lyon coach the club in 2020?:Yes
Will Freo have any All-Australian's in 2019? If so, who?:Fyfe - Hill - Walters (maybe Pearce if he doesn’t miss more than two).


Rationale:

Hill has shown that he can be the most damaging winger in the game over the last few weeks. Adding his brother after the bye is an injection of class and pace to an already dynamic team.

Freo should expect to win the next three. 2 at a minimum. However if we are going to learn from the start of the season we should win the next three and head to the derby with confidence. The draw is softer from here and the way we are playing I dare to think we are a chance against the hawks in tassie.

Our defence might be the best we’ve had. Ryan and Wilson give us run and delivery we haven’t had before. I expect Logue to build through the back half of the year and start to show his power and pace.

]The dream = sandi and hill build form and help power us into the finals.

The wet dream = Bennell comes back and strings together 12 games as a midfielder/fwd. we get another 100 games from him at full flight.

All Australian - fyfe has been so consistent. Hill if he keeps this up is a lock. Walters has been very consistent.
 
Apr 10, 2010
6,651
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Fremantle
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Current report card:
Grade: B
Best player of season to date: Hill
Best win: GWS
Worst loss: Adelaide

End of season/predicted report card:
Win/loss record: 12-10
Will Freo make finals?: Just
Will Ross Lyon coach the club in 2020?: Yep
Will Freo have any All-Australian's in 2019? If so, who?: Fyfe, another one or two in the squad, Hill, Walters or Pearce

Rationale:

A couple of weeks ago I was legitimately down on Freo and thought at the bye I'd be unhappy with where we are at.

What a change a couple of wins make. Can't fault the effort and very happy to be 6-5 at the break with some tough games out of the way and some talented players coming back from injury.

It's not just the wins though, even though it was a heart attack watching today and it feels like we are still entering the forward 50 three times for every score. It was entertaining to watch Fremantle play and that as much as anything is what has been missing for many of us. I still hope we don't extend Lyon's contact at all but results are results, he should have the full support of the club until the season ends and then do a review about 2020.
 
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Apr 10, 2010
6,651
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AFL Club
Fremantle
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AFC Wimbledon
...Freo should expect to win the next three. 2 at a minimum. However if we are going to learn from the start of the season we should win the next three and head to the derby with confidence. The draw is softer from here and the way we are playing I dare to think we are a chance against the hawks in tassie. ...

I could possibly enjoy that win even more than today :).
 

theGav56

Brownlow Medallist
Oct 11, 2004
29,352
29,331
Bali
AFL Club
Fremantle
Other Teams
Fremantle
Current report card:
Grade: B
Most influential player of season to date: Fyfe
Best win: Fremantle vs Collingwood
Worst loss: Fremantle vs. Gold Coast

End of season/predicted report card:
Win/loss record: 12 wins/10 losses
Will Freo make finals?: Yes
Will Ross Lyon coach the club in 2020?: Yes
Will Freo have any All-Australian's in 2019? If so, who?: Fyfe, B. Hill, Walters

Rationale:
The club is definitely trending upwards and has some mighty handy players set to return in SHill, Darcy, Bennell and Logue. They upgrade us significantly. Sandilands and Ballantyne may also have something significant to offer at the tail ends of their careers.

My prediction is on the lite side of the range that I think we are capable of finishing. We are vulnerable to injuries to key players (such as Pearce). We seem to be willing to carry younger players who are not yet earning their position (such as Cerra). Our forward line is flakey. But if it comes together 14 wins is not a silly prediction.
 
Apr 10, 2010
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Fair to say that what ever happens from now he has earned that.
If it has a disclaimer that the 2020 motto is "Things are not as good or as bad as they seem".

You just can't sack a winning coach, I noticed today that Fyfe mentioned when being interviewed on the field about the team being 'well coached' along with a list of other things going well. Nothing in it but wondered if they felt there had been some growing criticisms lately. It will take a LOT more to convince me a contract extension is a good idea, whatever happens 9 years is enough, but like I said above there should be full support for this year and then if he does the final year of his contract, in 2020.
 

Ysaye

Norm Smith Medallist
Nov 10, 2005
5,147
6,602
Perth
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Fremantle
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Fremantle
Current report card:
Grade
: B-
Most influential player of season to date: Alex Pearce (Apologies Jesse Hogan and David Mundy)
Best win: Collingwood
Worst loss: Essendon

End of season/predicted report card:
Win/loss record: 12 wins
Will Freo make finals?: Yes.....only just though
Will Ross Lyon coach the club in 2020?: Yes
Will Freo have any All-Australian's in 2019? If so, who?: Was going to say Alex Pearce but with him getting injured and Harris Andrews being around the mark hmm.....

Additional Commentary:
We have had heaps of run from defence particularly from Alex Pearce who has added a whole other dimension to his game whilst also becoming an even better shutdown defender at the same time. With Ryan and Hamling in good form, Wilson now starting to hit some form, Blakely back it is a key component to our form. Cerra started the season in okay form but got found out defensively against faster small forwards as time went on; resulting in him moving forward and losing confidence in his normally quality field kicking.

Down the other end, Hogan is taking a lot of pressure of our small forwards whilst also applying pressure to defenders himself; he is exactly the kind of forward that suits a Ross Lyon style gameplan and whilst he himself has not got massive numbers, I credit him with the other numbers of guys like Matera and Walters. It expect the forward line will look even better when Hogan has actually had a preseason, but finally the main ingredients are now there to stew for a while. Switkowski has also been a quiet achiever and has added both speed, skill and endeavour to this group, and arguably allowed Walters to play midfield as required.

Midfield has been bolstered hugely by a herculean effort by David Mundy who has turned back the clock in some games to close to his very best. Hill and Langdon have run people off their feet, but at times Langdon's disposal has let us down big time. Brayshaws determination and tackling at times has been inspirational and he has been improving his disposal over the season, whilst Darcy Tucker has definitely improved and adds extra footskill. Fyfe has been Fyfe. A big worry has been our ability defensively from centre bounces, and oppositions still seem to be able to expose us for a couple of run of goals through here, whilst we rarely score from them. We are conceding a bit at these stoppages by playing Lobb plus a tall forward, but we are probably gaining a bit in around the ground mobility which Darcy just doesn't have.

One suspects in the short term if Sandilands comes back around the end of the season he might be a short term booster shot to the side, as might Stephen Hill. Longer term though, there is still some work to be done on the midfield with respect to skill level+speed+endurance, although there are clearly options being developed in the pipeline.
 
Sep 18, 2015
13,131
32,116
The Hippodrome
AFL Club
Fremantle
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Hornets, Mariners, Falcons
Current report card:
Grade: B
Most influential player of season to date: Bradley Hill
Best win: Round 5 vs GWS
Worst loss: Round 2 vs Gold Coast

End of season/predicted report card:
Win/loss record: 13-9
Will Freo make finals?: Yes
Will Ross Lyon coach the club in 2020?: Yes
Will Freo have any All-Australian's in 2019? If so, who?: Bradley Hill, Nat Fyfe, Luke Ryan, Brandon Matera

Rationale:
We are getting to the halfway point of the season and we have some exciting, winnable games on the way (Port, Essendon, Carlton, Sydney at Optus, Melbourne at the MCG, Bulldogs and Saints at Marvel) as well as 3 maybes (Port at Port, Hawks in Tassie and the Derby).

We've broken GWS's winstreak in Canberra and beat Collingwood at the MCG for the first time in 13 years. We have 2 major wins on the road (we had 1 against Carlton last season) and some depth coming up (Sean Darcy, Mitch Crowden, Harley Bennell, Griffin Logue, Stephen Hill, Tom North, Luke Valente, Stefan Giro, Lachie Schultz).

A lot to look forward too but his opinion will change veryyyyy easily
 
May 2, 2017
19,686
40,012
QLD
AFL Club
Fremantle
Current report card:
Grade: B+
Most influential player of season to date: Fyfe/Walters/Mundy/Pearce/Lobb (raffle it)
Best win: Round 5 vs GWS
Worst loss: Round 2 vs Gold Coast

End of season/predicted report card:
Win/loss record: 12-10
Will Freo make finals?: Yes (by %)
Will Ross Lyon coach the club in 2020?: Yes
Will Freo have any All-Australian's in 2019? If so, who?: Bradley Hill, Nat Fyfe, Luke Ryan, Walters (for the squad, only 3 in the 22).

Rationale:
I wouldn't have been surprised if you told me we'd be 6-5 at the start of the season but it is the way we got there that has me at B+.

All of our losses have been competitive and we always played 4 quarters. Terrific away wins that instill belief and very solid at home. The only knock I have on us is we are missing a fair bit of polish but I expect that this year and suspect we won't really hit our straps in that regard for another 18 months or so.

Best part is the amount of upside we have (both this season and for 2020 and beyond) with Shill, Darcy, Sturt, other recent and coming draftees and if you are being really optimistic, Bennell.

Exciting times.
 

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Feb 11, 2011
15,095
15,119
pakenham
AFL Club
Fremantle
Current report card:
Grade: B
Most influential player of season to date: Fyfe
Best win: GWS
Worst loss:Suns

End of season/predicted report card:
Win/loss record: 13-9
Will Freo make finals?: Yes
Will Ross Lyon coach the club in 2020?: Yes
Will Freo have any All-Australian's in 2019? If so, who?:
Only Fyfe. Traditionally get overlooked and only had one in a grand final year.

Rationale:
All remaining 11 games are winnable. Extremely great chance to win the next 3 games.

Key is to keep key players on the field.
 

Square Peg

Cancelled
Fremantle Poster of the Year Fremantle Board Tipping Champion
Jul 20, 2014
8,194
18,414
AFL Club
Fremantle
Current report card:
Grade: B
Best player of season to date: Fyfe
Best win: GWS
Worst loss: Richmond

End of season/predicted report card:
Win/loss record: 13-9
Will Freo make finals?: Yes
Will Ross Lyon coach the club in 2020?: Yes
Will Freo have any All-Australian's in 2019? If so, who?: Fyfe

Rationale:

I predicted finals before the start of the year and don't see any reason to change. I think we are tracking exactly where we should be. After we were 4-2 there was a mini-poll on here somewhere that asked how we would go in the next five games. Like most of us I said 2-3 but the least likely two IMO were the two we won. We were two kicks off going 0-5 which would have changed the mood in here considerably. Thank Christ we didn't.

The GWS win was the most comprehensive four quarter effort of the year.

The Richmond loss was the worst - playing them at home, they were well understrength, lost their ruckman before half time yet it was the one game we never actually looked like winning at any stage. Every other loss we could have pinched a win.

I think part of our improvement this year has been the S&C/medical team. Credit where it's due as I have been doubting them for years but they have got us to the bye in pretty good shape injury wise, if they can get S Hill, Sandi and Bennell into this team in the second half of the year and keep the old legs of Mundy going look out.

Lyon will coach in 2020, as others have said the question has always been about extending. I hope we make no move this year, bring in an experienced new assistant coach and see what happens next year. Unless of course he delivers a 2019 flag, then he can name his terms.

Fyfe will be AA, I have no confidence we will see any others. Andrews is ahead of Pearce now as the media darling to replace Rance at fullback
 
Sep 22, 2011
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The third quarter vs Collingwood and the last vs GWS reminds me of exactly the second half of 2012. When we’re hot, absolutely unstoppable.

Remember in the later rounds vs North in 2012, piled on 20 straight kicks without them touching it and kicking 6 straight or something within minutes. We’re seeing that a bit, that third against Pies was the pressure, pushing to get it forward and just blanketing the opposition.

Anytime, anywhere
 
Sep 11, 2008
12,350
9,147
Adelaide
AFL Club
Fremantle
Other Teams
Man Utd
Current report card:
Grade: B. The Gold Coast, and Essendon loss stopped it being an A
Most influential player of season to date: Walters. Has been great in the midfield, and through forward line.
Best win:GWS and Collingwood. Both top 4 sides, away from home.
Worst loss:Gold Coast

End of season/predicted report card:
Win/loss record: 12 wins, 10 losses
Will Freo make finals?:Yes
Will Ross Lyon coach the club in 2020?:Yes
Will Freo have any All-Australian's in 2019? If so, who?:2, Fyfe and Walters, B Hill will make the squad

Rationale:
Our team has turned the corner this year. No big losses, and playing a lot better away from home.
Still, we place a large load on 5 or 6 key players, although Brayshaw and Cerra take some load of Fyfe, and Lobb has been massive this year.
The back 6 looks really good, and the midfield is building.
Our best small forward is still WAlters, who plays his best footy in the midfield, and then pushing forward. This is our biggest need in the off season,
 
I thought that a couple of weeks ago, but I am not convinced at all by Port, Crows, Hawks, Saints or Us. Think 12 could definitely do it.
I think there's not enough teams with really high wins this season to make 12 viable. I think there will be teams on 12 that miss out, I'd want 13 to be sure.
 
May 2, 2017
19,686
40,012
QLD
AFL Club
Fremantle
I think there's not enough teams with really high wins this season to make 12 viable. I think there will be teams on 12 that miss out, I'd want 13 to be sure.
I think that, apart from Carlton and Gold Coast, the other teams out of the 8 are very competitive and I expect them to take wins off all the finals aspirants (except maybe the top 2). 16th could easily win 6-7 games this year.
 

MrDanggazz

Norm Smith Medallist
Jun 11, 2016
6,772
6,636
AFL Club
Fremantle
Current report card:
Grade: B
Most influential player of season to date: Brad Hill, Luke Ryan, Nat Fyfe, Rory Lobb in that order
Best win: Fremantle vs GWS
Worst loss: Fremantle vs. Gold Coast

End of season/predicted report card:
Win/loss record: 13 wins/9 losses
Will Freo make finals?: Yes
Will Ross Lyon coach the club in 2020?: Yes
Will Freo have any All-Australian's in 2019? If so, who?: Bradley Hill, Nat Fyfe, Luke Ryan

Rationale:
Fremantle is defiantly on the up with a strong list even more so with best 22 players in Hill, Bennell and Darcy to make there way into the side. The really disappointing loss to bloody Gold Coast might be the one to haunt us towards the end of the year.

I will never understand why Ross loves turning midfielders into back-flankers so much but Blakely needs to be on ball IMO. He seems lost down back but as soon as he goes on ball it is like he is a different player. We still rely heavily on Fyfe, Hill, Walters and Mundy to win us games, Tucker and Brayshaw are coming along nicely but we are still in need for a classy inside mid to lesson the load on Fyfe and Co. Lobb has been the recruit of the year so far, has been massive in the ruck and more so around the ground with his superior ability to take marks and snag a sausage here and there. Still needs someone to be able to give him a rest down forward here and there like a Darcy or Sandi.

Our back 6 has been simply superb, the only reason we were still in games at stages with it being peppered in at times from superior midfields. Luke Ryan in particular has been incredible with his intercept marking and great footy mind. Ryan and Wilson provide the run and gun style we need while Pearce and Hamling have been nothing short of sensational, being two of the best lock-down defenders in the league.

Forward line is still a big issue for us, without Walters and Matera finding form we wouldn't be where we are right now. Its time for someone and anyone to stand up, neither Cox nor Hogan have fired a shot this year and its eventually going be the reason we lose games. McCarthy you'd think would be destroying Peel trying to fight his way back into the side but hasn't fired a shot since getting dropped.

Overall the positives outweigh the negatives, 9th or above is the passing grade for Ross the Boss.
 
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Scatter

Club Legend
Dec 30, 2008
1,309
2,239
Geraldton
AFL Club
Fremantle
Current report card:
Grade: B+
Most influential player of season to date: Mundy
Best win: Tie - Collingwood/GWS
Worst loss: Essendon


End of season/predicted report card:
Win/loss record: 12/10
Will Freo make finals?: Will come down to %, probably not.
Will Ross Lyon coach the club in 2020?: Yes
Will Freo have any All-Australian's in 2019? If so, who?: 1 - Fyfe


Rationale:
Had to give better than a B given we have beaten two top 4 teams away from home.
Mundy because I don't think we expected him to be as good as he has been considering his age. Fyfe is our best player, and Walters/Hill maybe have been in near career best form at times, but Mundy has been the biggest surprise on output compared to expected and thus a bigger influence on our rise.
We played best against GWS, but I think beating Collingwood at the G when they are playing well is just about the best win you can have.
We really should have beaten Essendon, they played bad and we played worse. Would have said the Richmond game but at least they played well.
Hard to judge our eoy win/loss. Checked the fixtures for the first time and we could win them all, but so many danger games. Haven't beaten WC or Hawks for ages, Geelong seems unbeatable at the moment (at least we play them here), and don't think Melb is as bad as their record. Plus we have been crap after the bye since it came in so Port here is no gimme either. Hopefully we don't tire in the second half of the year like recent times.
Can't see Lyon leaving, I am one of his supporters though. Had some doubts creep in the last 12 months but back on his bandwagon again now.
Think all of Hill, Walters, Ryan etc a chance of AA, but at the end of the day I would only expect Fyfe in the final 22.
 

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