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FREMANTLE'S Mark Harvey won't buy into discussion about coaching against his former club on Sunday, but says Scott Lucas and Matthew Lloyd should expect the unexpected.
It will be Harvey's second time coaching against Essendon, the club where he played 206 games and was an assistant coach for eight seasons under Kevin Sheedy.
While it will be Matthew Knights and not his former mentor Sheedy at the helm this time around, he was keen to ensure Fremantle's third win of the season was the focus of pre-match hype and not any extra personal significance it might have for him.
He said he was looking forward to plotting the downfall of the likes of Lloyd and Lucas and promised a few surprises for the experienced Essendon duo.
Harvey knows Essendon has a dangerous forward line, and with key defenders Luke McPharlin and Michael Johnson under injury clouds, he will try some different strategies to stop them.
"You will see some interesting match-ups. I've been a great admirer of Lloyd and Lucas, but it will be interesting to see what happens when whoever they think will play on them doesn't do so. I won't give away who, but it will surprise them, and it will be an interesting game," Harvey said.
"There was a lot of pressure coming onto Matthew because of his output a couple of weeks ago and he's always been a champion player. He still finds a way to be that no matter what role he plays and, with Lucas back in the side, it alleviates the pressure off him."
Harvey isn’t interested in firing any barbs Essendon's way, but he's sure Mark Johnson and Dean Solomon will savour playing their former teammates.
"I'm sure it's different for guys that were close to Kevin (Sheedy), but they've moved on from that, and I'm not going to get caught up in the Essendon antics this week," he said.
"Knowing that we have a couple of guys here from Essendon it will be an interesting game. Johnson and Solomon might not play any differently than they normally do, but they will have some added incentive that's for sure."
Johnson certainly has plenty to play for – it's not only his first game against Essendon (where he played 194 games), but the 200th of his AFL career and Harvey has nothing but praise for the 2000 premiership player.
"He has tenacity and a will to win and that has carried him through. I would hope after he has 200 games of experience he can get over the top of the emotion of playing his milestone against his former club," he said.
"Mark has only been here for six months, but the way he goes about his football and his personality has rubbed off on a lot of the young guys, but he's also become close with a guy like Shaun McManus.
"Sometimes you get criticised for bringing players to the club, but sometimes there's more to it than just what they offer on the field."
I wonder who will play down back for Freo? And will it really help Freo by 'surprising' Lloyd and Lucas? Sure they could be surprised but it's not like they're gonna have an off day because they're so shocked about the match ups. It sounds like Mark Harvey is worried about this game. And so he should be 
