The Numbers game
86 – Combined games of brothers Lachie and Maverick Weller who’ll face each other on Saturday.
31 – Total games played between Freo and St Kilda (14 win -17 loss)
20 – Most marks taken in a single game by a Freo player. Luke McPharlin achieved this twice against St Kilda (Rd 20, 2006 and Rd 9, 2007)
10 – Players who have played games for both Freo and St Kilda (Tony Delaney, Craig Callahan, Mark Gale, Gavin Mitchell, Heath Black, Adrian Fletcher, Matthew Carr, Brett Peake, Dylan Roberton, Zac Dawson)
4 – Longest winning streak against St Kilda (Rd 21, 2005 to Rd 9, 2007)
3 – The previous three games have been played at Etihad Stadium. Freo haven’t played St Kilda in WA since Rd 15, 2013.
Last time we met
Fremantle (15.6.96) def St Kilda (8.11.59)
Lachie Neale was at his ball winning best, finishing with 36 disposals, equal highest on the ground, alongside Leigh Montagna.
Stephen Hill had 29 touches and used his raking left foot to great effect, with 21 kicks and two goals against the Saints.
Garrick Ibbotson was busy off halfback, with his second highest career disposals in a game (28) and a game high six defensive rebounds.
Nick Suban performed well in the midfield with 22 touches, five clearances and a goal.
Sam Collins to debut against Saints
Even Spread
Fremantle will look to replicate their goal kicking spread against St Kilda after their 37 point victory in Rd 19, 2015. Freo had six players kick two goals (Hill, Sandilands, Mayne, Crozier, Pavlich, Griffin) in the win, while for St Kilda, only midfielder Steven Jack was able to hit the scoreboard twice.
Brotherly Love
Lachie and Maverick Weller will face off for the second time in Saturday’s clash, after competing opposite each other in Freo and St Kilda’s 2015 clash. While Maverick (24yo, 77 games) has the age and experience advantage over Lachie (20yo, 12 games) both have been played comparably so far in 2016, with both averaging more than 13 disposals a game and laying more than 30 tackles.
Saints tall trio
A collaborative effort will be needed from Freo’s defenders to curtail the Saints big men up forward. For the first time since being drafted in 2000, Nick Riewoldt hasn’t been the focal point in the forward line, with Josh Bruce, Tim Membrey and Paddy McCartin kicking 40 goals between them so far in 2016.
Preventing forward line entries
While St Kilda have a formidable young forward line, they’ve had trouble getting the ball to them so far this in 2016. The Saints have only won the inside 50 count twice in nine contests and were victorious in those two games (Rd 3 v Collingwood, Rd 9 v Essendon), while their only other victory came against Melbourne in which both teams had 55 entries each. In their six losses so far this year, the Saints have lost the inside 50 count 286 to 355.
