Fremantle vs Bulldogs NAB Cup Review

Fremantle Dockers 0.23.8 (146) def Western Bulldogs 0.5.7 (37) 

Fremantle took a full strength team to Rushton Park in Mandurah to play the Western Bulldogs auskick team, the results went as expected. The game was played in hot condition so subs and interchange caps were scrapped. Here are the Fantasy results!

Fremantle

This is pretty close to the team that Fremantle will field in round 1. The race seems to be on between Clarke and Griffen to fill Sandilands giant shoes with Clarke seeming to have more influence at centre bounces.

Scores: Fyfe 107, Mundy 89, Walters 85, Duffield 84, Pavlich 73, Barlow 71, De boer 70, C Pearce 70, Ballantyne 69, Clarke 69, Mayne 65, Johnson 62, Griffin 57, Crowley 54, D Pearce 48, Hill 45, Suban 44, Mzungu 42, Neale 42, McPharlin 40, Crozier 29, Dawson 20, Spurr 20, Bradley 8

Notable players

Matthew Pavlich (fwd $489,400) 73 – Great first game back for Pav. Looks seriously fit and moved well. Got off to a great start with 2 goals in the first quarter. Slowed down as the game went on and Freo managed him. Finished with 3.3 and 8 marks. Once again keep in mind that he looked like more of a monster in Freo’s forward line compared to the young Bulldogs players around him.

Nathan Fyfe (mid $458,500) 107 – Fyfe put on a masterclass and was everywhere, seemed to have a wing to himself! His 11 touches in the first quarter set up the Fremantle onslaught. Looked an absolute jet until he silenced the crowd late in the 3rd quarter when he left the ground holding his left shoulder. At this point Fremantle was 80 points up so I thought it would be the end of Fyfe’s game as risking him seemed pointless. It mustn’t of been serious though because Fyfe returned (with 2 rolls of extra tape on his shoulder) in the 4th quarter and carried on attacking every contest like nothing happened. He finished the game with 30 disposals.

Nick Suban (def $264,500) 44 – Buyer beware! Ross Lyon told us the other week that Suban would be getting more midfield time. This week he did exactly that. Suban did play brief periods through the mids as he tagged Cooney any time Crowley left him. Finished the game with 5 tackles but also gave away quite a few few kicks.

Paul Duffield (def $426,800) 84 – The Duffman spent the game mopping up the Dogs poor forward 50 entries. Got a lot of cheap marks and kicks, even drifted forward for a goal. Something that I feel has benefited Duffield’s scoring is the 6 second kick in limit. Duffield took the majority of kick in’s and played on from every one of them. That’s a lot of cheap kick stats!

Danyle Pearce (def/mid $376,900) 48 – Pearce didn’t score too well but was very effective. His disposal was excellent today, highlighted by a few pinpoint forward 50 entries that resulted in goals. There is no doubt that he is in Fremantles best 22 but from watching today’s game.

Bulldogs

The Bulldogs fielded a team with only 5 player who’ve played over 35 games. The lack of experience showed and the young dogs struggled to get their hands on the ball. This notably affected their DT scoring. Next week should give a better indication as to their best 22.

Scores: Stevens 69, Cooney 63, Smith 58, Macrae 57, Wallis 48, Wood 47, Johannisen 46, Dahlhaus 43, Campbell 41, Dickson 40, Roughead 38, Tutt 38, Jong 36, Liberatore 35, Lower 31, Markovic 30, Pearce 29, Talia 29, Austin 27, Grant 25, Young 25, Cordy 23, Redpath 7

Notable Players

Koby Stevens (mid $204,800) 69 – Koby was easily the Bulldogs best on ground. Should of done enough today to lock down a round one game. Only issue with his game is he still isn’t tackling. Was pretty obvious today as the dogs players spent most of the game chasing ball carriers. If he started applying tackles he could really be a great DT pick up.

Luke Dahlhaus (fwd $384,300) 43 – Dahlhaus was his usual contest hungry self. Playing as a high half forward starved of opportunity he threw himself at every contest that came his way and was one of the few shining lights in the Dogs line up. I’m not sure why this kid isn’t posting massive DT scores yet but we all know it’s only a matter of time before he is!

Jackson Macrae (mid $161,200) 57 – I had no idea who this kid was but he forced me to notice and look him up. He is a very good user of the ball and knows how to get into space find it. Not sure if he will be in the dogs side in round 1 but could be an excellent downgrade target mid season.

Nick Lower (mid $352,200) 31 – Quiet game against his former club. Also gave away a few free kicks which the crowd enjoyed. I wouldn’t read much into his score as he was constantly on and off the ground as part of high rotations to give younger players more exposure on the ball.

Only 2 weeks till the real stuff starts! Follow me on twitter @Anthonydsmith86