Winning the midfield battle will be crucial to taking honours in the Carlton Draught Derby against West Coast this Sunday, according to Fremantle defender Luke McPharlin.
 
Freo’s centre line was supreme against Geelong in a 44-point victory and McPharlin says that dominance made his job a lot easier.
 
“That’s (the midfield battle) always pivotal in every game,” McPharlin said.
 
“(Nat) Fyfe, (David) Mundy, (Stephen) Hill were really dominant through there.

Fyfe in flight
 
“Winning the contested ball goes a long way towards us winning the game.”
 
McPharlin was able to keep Geelong’s star recruit Mitch Clark to just five possessions and he expects to get the job on West Coast’s in-form Josh Kennedy, who is coming off a 10-goal haul against Carlton.
 
“He’s (Kennedy) been in super nick as we all know and I’ve played on him a bit on the past,” McPharlin said.
 
“If we get it done in the midfield, it will make my job a lot easier.
 
“Clark was always going to be a key for them.
 
“Between myself and Michael Johnson, to effectively keep (Tom) Hawkins and Clark reasonably quiet throughout the day was good for us, but again the work up the field was pivotal in allowing us to deal with those duels.”

Michael Johnson steps up
 
Freo senior coach Ross Lyon said the ball use wasn’t the best coming out of defence against Port Adelaide in round 1, but McPharlin said some work on the training track was able to help rectify that against the Cats.
 
“We wanted to be a lot more slick with the ball in hand,” McPharlin said.
 
“It was a very scrappy game last week from our point of view.
 
“It was a real focus to use the ball well and effectively take the easy option, not always try and invent something.”
 
Freo takes on West Coast in the Carlton Draught Derby on Sunday 19 April.

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