Fremantle are preparing for a Ben Jacobs tag on one of their star midfielders in Sunday’s clash with North Melbourne at Optus Stadium, according to senior coach Ross Lyon.
The North Melbourne midfielder performed an impressive shut-down performance on Richmond’s Dustin Martin a fortnight ago, adding the reigning Brownlow Medallist to a growing list of scalps this season.
Lyon believes Nat Fyfe stands out as the obvious, but not only target in Jacobs’ sights on Sunday.
“You’d think (a tag on Fyfe) would happen,” Lyon said.
“It could be David Mundy or Lachie Neale but he tends to go to the insiders.
“Nathan’s been tagged numerous times before but you can’t get complacent about that so you have some contingencies.
“All teams in the AFL try and support the players getting heavily tagged.”
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Lyon was effusive in his praise of Jacobs but has no doubts Fyfe can handle any attention.
“Ben’s a very talented player in his own right. He’s got a big tank, a beautiful kick,” Lyon said.
“There’s a lot to him so Nathan’s going to have a fight on his hands and we’ll need to help him.”
Fyfe evades a tackle from Jacobs in round 21 of the 2015 season
With wet weather forecast on Sunday, Fyfe’s aerial abilities could be crucial up front and Lyon agreed with the suggestion that Fyfe could push forward to break a tag.
“What we can control is Nathan’s position on the ground. He’s certainly an aerial threat,” Lyon said.
“He tends to mark really well in the wet. He marks as well in the wet as anyone I’ve seen so we would encourage Nathan to (push forward).”
Lyon addressed a number of injury concerns heading into the weekend, including Fyfe who’s battling a minor knee issue.
“It’s just a really minor ligament, it’s not a major one. It just rolls and catches so if that doesn’t happen, he’s 100 per cent,” Lyon said.
“I think it’s only happened twice in the past two weeks. If it does get caught there’s some management we could do, but he’s not going to hurt it and it’s fine.”
The likes of Michael Walters (knee), Joel Hamling (concussion) and Stephen Hill (quad) are also likely to play.
“Michael’s a bit sore from the game in general. It would be disappointing if he doesn’t play but my understanding is he’s fine and he’s playing,” Lyon said.
“Joel’s cleared his Cogstate (concussion test) and we expect him to train and play. Once they’ve passed that Cogstate test that’s a really good sign.
“Stephen did what he was required to do during the week. He warmed up with the group and trained (on Tuesday) and we expect him to get through (training on Friday). If he does that he’ll play.”
