The Fremantle Dockers midfield has a key role to play in defending St Kilda’s bevy of tall forwards in Saturday's round 10 clash with the Saints, according to Michael Walters.
The Saints had a 46-point win against Essendon in round nine, and this came off the back of impressive performances from their talls.
Josh Bruce kicked five goals, Tim Membrey (3) and Paddy McCartin (2) also contributed, and while Nick Riewoldt didn’t hit the scoreboard, he finished with 23 disposals against the Bombers.
Blakely benefiting from experience
Walters said given the talent of the Saints’ forward line, it would take a collaborative effort to help Freo’s defenders.
“St Kilda have been playing some really good football, so we need to make sure we’re ready for them,” Walters said.
“It’s very important for us in the midfield to force them back so we can bring our forwards into the game and really lock it in.
“If we don’t do our job and force the ball where we want it, we’ll give them an opportunity to get the ball in cleanly to their forwards, who are very dangerous.”
While Walters has begun to look toward the clash with St Kilda on Saturday, he acknowledged that Freo must first review their round nine match against Richmond to seek improvement.
“It’s time for us to go back, review the Richmond game and then take out of that what we can to prepare us for a tough challenge on Saturday,” he said.
“We played one quarter of really positive footy, but we need to work on our four quarter efforts which is something we’ll review really hard.
“They’re (St Kilda) going to run hard and be fierce around the contest.
“So we’ll make sure we come out with a strong focus and try to play a good brand of footy.”
