- Jul 20, 2014
- 8,194
- 18,414
- AFL Club
- Fremantle
A MESSAGE FROM AFL MARKETING
Step right up, step right up for the luminous, the phantasmagorical, Gather Round encounter between the Gold Coast Suns (away) and Fremantle Dockers (further away) on Friday April 14 2023.
Do not be deterred by the spectre of two teams with 1-3 records and 1000-1 shots at relevancy playing one another. In conjunction with our major sponsors Tourism SA and Corporate Sports Australia (Colin Young, principal) the AFL is pleased to bring you this once in a lifetime opportunity.
Our two prime feeder/development clubs scheduled to play a special exhibition match, for the first time ever within an easy one hour flight of the Melbourne Airport.
Yes, you spoke and we listened. We heard you were sick of having to travel to the far flung backwaters of Gold Coast or Perth to see the best young talent available for poaching play against one another in their annual joke-fest of a match that no one watches or cares about. So Victorian club CEOs, coaches, list managers, player agents come one, come all, do not miss out!
Forty-six AFL ready players, already vaccinated, broken in and compliant, and just waiting for that chance to move to a proper club with a pathway to a flag.
Will you be the one to bring Ben King home? Can Sean Darcy be rescued before it’s too late? Is Noah Anderson ready for prime time? Will it be your club that liberates Hayden Young before he forgets how to football altogether?
Gather Round people, wherever you roam, for the clubs they are a changin’ (if the offer is right)
Purchase your full package from AFL Marketing today. Highlights include
- A pre-match warm-up comedy show not to be missed, featuring a video montage of some of the best and funniest 2023 preseason one liners from Stewie “I think we’re ready to break into the top 8” Dew, and Justin “We’re as good as any team in the comp” Longmuir
- An uninterrupted view of the picturesque Norwood Oval playing field. With the AFL projecting zero members of the public will be turning up to this joke of an idea, you will not have to deal with anything annoying like actual spectators. Choose your seat from amongst the 3900 (count them, 3900) spots in this magnificent stadium and not risk sitting behind a single actual ‘fan’ or ‘member’ of one of these two clubs (Caveat: Acting under instructions from the AFL, both clubs reserve the right to lie to their own members and pretend that their game is as important as any other game being played in Gather Round at an actual AFL venue like Adelaide Oval)
- Exclusive half time access to the players of each club, allowing you to maximise your experience by making adjustments regarding what you want to see from your potential recruits in the second half (please remember to talk slowly and be patient, none of these players have ever heard a proper half time address before, let alone been asked to change their position or deviate from the ‘game plan’)
- This exhibition done and dusted by 6pm local time, which gives you two hours to get to the pubs in Adelaide before the regular Friday night closing time of 8pm
THE PREVIEW
When and where: Friday April 14 2023 at Norwood Oval (google maps it - I don't know either)
Long range weather forecast: 23 deg, high chance of showers at game time
Overall head to head record: Played 13, Gold Coast 5 wins, Fremantle 8 wins. Both teams have never lost a game at Norwood Oval so do have something to play for to maintain that impressive record.
Last time they played:
Highlights: Gold Coast v Fremantle
Round 9 2022 at Metricon Stadium, a comfortable six goal win to the plastic fantastics at Metricon Stadium on a miserable wet day when we managed 4 goals for the entire match. Caleb Serong led a subpar team with 26 disposals and an astonishing 14 tackles. Neil Erasmus played in that game and kicked 25% of our goals, just saying.
We have at least seven definite outs since that game: Mundy (ret), Colyer (inj), Chapman (inj), Logue (trd), Tucker (trd), Lobb (trd), Acres (trd). Walters didn’t play and is a definite in. Jackson is an in. Tabs, Wilson, JO’M and NO’D also didn’t play that match but are any of them certainties for this week based on their recent form?
2023 Record:
After being talked up by a few (but definitely not most) pundits as teams on the up in the hunt for finals, both clubs have had an eerily identical poor start to the year – LLWL with heavy beltings in their last game and realistically, for the loser, you can virtually write off any chance of that finals idea in 2023.
Key match ups:
Darcy vs Witts. Witts was a late out for Gold Coast in round 4, but likely to return for this match. The Suns have some midfield bulls that rely on his impressive bash and crash ruck game, which Sean can and will need to match for us to have a chance.
Pearce vs King: It’s fair to say Big Ben hasn’t gotten back to his best yet post serious knee injury, we desperately need our skipper to lift to keep it that way. We simply can’t afford to let King have his first day out for the year if we’re going to win this. Will the real Alex Pearce please stand up?
Walters/Schultz etc vs MacPherson/Weller etc: The Saints small forwards teared gold coast a new one this week. They have guys like Weller and MacPherson that love to launch offensively off half back but are really vulnerable defenders. Our smalls have to kick goals and plenty of them or it’s going to be another long day.
Longmuir vs Dew: You could reasonably expect this might be the final ever meeting between these two – one at least will be gone by years end if the current trajectory of their team continues. Which one has it in him to lift their underperforming team off the canvas?
Prediction:
Based purely on bias, blind faith, the fact that their loss to the Saints was worse than our lost to the Saints as the only form guide, the fact that we’re meant to be bigger and better as a club than this horrible franchise that should never have been born: Fremantle by 21 points. I’m not sure what I’ll do if we lose. Probably regret this preview for a start.
