Fremantle need to start quickly if they’re to challenge the sixth-placed Cats at Domain Stadium on Friday night, according to defender Hayden Crozier.
Ross Lyon’s men were slow out of the blocks against the Demons but Crozier said the players were confident they could turn their fortunes around.
“It’s something we came in reviewing at the start of this week and are looking to improve on,” he said.
“There’s been positives out of games where we’ve come out after half-time and played the Fremantle brand of footy that we want to play.
“It’s just an onus on the playing group to come out and really make a strong first contest.”
Crozier also pinpointed ball use out of the backline as something the team would look to address.
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“From the weekend, I think our skill errors were really costing us coming out of defence,” he said.
“You obviously don’t go out there trying to miss targets, but it’s something we need to improve on.”
With injuries to seasoned campaigners Michael Johnson, Alex Silvagni and Clancee Pearce, Fremantle has been forced to field an inexperienced defence for much of the season.
However, the 22-year-old said he was impressed with how his younger teammates – particularly Collins – had responded to the challenge.
“We’ve got quite a young backline but I think we’ve been really improving over the last few weeks and guys like Sam Collins have come in, and Zac Dawson has really taken him under his wing, and he’s been fantastic for us so far,” he said.
Fremantle are preparing to face a star-studded Geelong side looking to atone for their unexpected loss against Sydney last weekend.
Match day information
On-baller Patrick Dangerfield, who made a highly publicised move from Adelaide last trade period, has been in career-best form, while skipper Joel Selwood has enjoyed more freedom in the midfield
Crozier said only a team-first approach would quell the dominant duo.
“We know Paddy Dangerfield’s a fantastic player and they’ve got a lot of strong players through their group,” he said.
“It obviously doesn’t take one person to stop him, let alone guys like Joel Selwood.
“We’re not going to zone in on anyone in particular. We just want to go out there, have a strong start and [put in] a really good team performance.”
Fremantle face the Cats at Domain Stadium on Friday night. Bounce down is 6:10 WST.
