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Ross Lyon said Fremantle have returned to a simpler pre-season program for 2019, similar to that which he adopted during his first season at the club in 2012.
The Fremantle senior coach addressed the club’s pre-season goals while speaking to 300 Fremantle members at the Annual Members’ Meeting at Optus Stadium on Tuesday night.
“It’s back to the future a little bit,” Lyon said.
“(Recently) we’ve really focused on the individual. Our sessions became longer and drawn out. In hindsight that was the wrong way t go.
“When I walked in through the door (in 2012), I said let’s get fit, get available and be on the same page, so we’re stripping it back to the three focuses.
“We’ve stripped back focusing on anything incremental. Anything where we can take out any complexity or any junk, we’ve done that.
“I spoke to (former Essendon player) Travis Colyer today and he said he’s really enjoying the program. I know he’s talking to his coach and he wants to get a game, but he was drawing good comparisons.”
Lyon said that improving Fremantle's away record was a priority and he expects to see progress as the youthful team gains experience.
“We want to be an anywhere, anytime team,” Lyon said.
“We need to improve our record interstate and that will come with maturity, stronger minds and stronger bodies."
Lyon said the most important thing he and the players can do is to make the members and supporters proud.
“We want to be a club that gives great effort and we know that’s the starting point from our Docker community and in particular our members and partners.,” Lyon said.
“That’s what they want to see and that’s what I want to see, that 100 per cent effort. There are some good signs at the moment.”
President Dale Alcock addressed the room to open the meeting and laid out his expectations for the season.
“We’re doing everything possible to achieve that on-field success and what I hope and expect to see in 2019 is growth, potential and possibility as we continue our pursuit of the ultimate goal,” Alcock said.
“We’ve got a great membership base, we’ve got great stakeholders, we all know where we’re going and our focus is squarely on delivering success.”
As a part of the evening, Fremantle’s 10 new players for 2019 were unveiled to the members for the first time.
This included new signings from the Free Agency/Trade Period Jesse Hogan, Rory Lobb, Travis Colyer and Reece Conca and Fremantle’s new draftees Sam Sturt, Luke Valente, Lachie Schultz, Brett Bewley, Tobe Watson and Jason Carter.
With members keen to see Hogan in action early in 2019, the star forward gave an update on his foot.
“It’s coming along well,” Hogan said.
“I started running (on a reduced-weight treadmill) four weeks ago and it will be a few more until I’m on the track.
“Once it’s done, it won’t be a worry anymore.”