New recruit Jordan Clark is set to bring more than his blistering pace to half back at his new Club, according to teammate Travis Colyer.
Colyer and Clark matched up on occasions throughout Saturday’s match sim, with Colyer at half forward for ‘Purple’ and Clark at half back for ‘White’.
Both known for their leg speed, Colyer said Clark has the footy smarts to know how to use his physical traits to his advantage.
“He’s quick and he gets in behind you. He’s just a smart footballer. I think the best part of a lot of our half backs, but particularly Clarky, is the instinctual nature in the way they play and attack the game,” Colyer said.
“’Boydy’ (assistant coach Matthew Boyd) has really driven into them (the backline) a defend first mentality, but when there’s a opportunity to go, use your legs and use your kicking - that's something that’s is a definite strength of (Clark’s).
“He complements the rest of our backline really well so it’s exciting to see him get a full match practice in as well as seeing what he can do against some opposition in the next couple of weeks, it will be great.”
The 30-year-old Colyer is one of Fremantle’s most experienced players, and said one of this priorities in the scratch match was to play a guiding role for fellow forward Joel Western.
Colyer kicked one goal and Western two in Purple’s 13-point win, with Western continuing a run of impacting the scoreboard in match sims this summer.
“I’m feeling out my body at this time of the year and I had a really good connection today, particularly with Joel Western, we had a focus and partnered up,” Colyer said.
“To see his development and for me just to engage with him and for us to work together was good.
“Getting Matt Taberner back in training, Rory Lobb is spending more time down there – as a group of forwards, that connection piece is going to come. It was just nice to be involved in that.”
Colyer said ‘connection and communication’ was a priority for Fremantle as they put the finishing touches on their pre-season ahead of round one on 20 March against Adelaide.
“As the pressure goes up, we need to really focus in on that execution piece and communicating and connecting together as a team because it’s going to come around really quickly and we’ve been fortunate to be able to play so much football 18 on 18,” Colyer said.
“We’re lucky but we’ve got to execute when the season comes around proper.”
The key moments from Saturday's scratch match
Scratch match gallery
Presenting the 'Moorditj' clash jumper
