HAYLEY MILLER
Round one is upon us, how are you feeling?
super exciting and the anticipation is building ahead of round one, which starts tonight. It’s an exciting time for all of us.
Huge blow with the Antonio's injured and Gemma Houghton departing, how do you go about covering those losses?
It is difficult. Unfortunately, with Kara’s hamstring and Ebony injuring her knee. Gemma Houghton and Steph Cain leaving also to expansion sides. It’s probably less about covering those players and more about building up our young talent that we’ve got. We’ve had the opportunity to have one season already this year and it gives our young players another go in the same year. We’re banking on our players to really step up again.
Will covering those losses affect how well you start the season?
I think we still have the ability to hit the ground running. Round one is going to be a tough game, Brisbane are a fantastic side and they have been for a long period of time. The 21 girls we have out there, I know they all work together really well. We have players like Aine Tighe, who’s improving her impact on games and she’ll play a bit more forward than she did last year. That gives our forward line a bit of a different dynamic. Change can be a really good thing and it can put us that next step ahead. We’ve been sitting in this ‘almost’ position for a few years and we want to take that next step. A change is sometimes what you need.
The other AFLW captains haven’t given Fremantle much of a chance this year, do you use that as motivation?
I think they never really do, I don’t think there’s ever been a season where the captains have said we would do well. One of the seasons they all said we’d be the wooden spooners. This gives us a bit of drive. A few journalists have said we’re the most likely team to drop out of finals this year. We look at that, and you don’t want to give it too much airtime, but you use that as a bit of motivation to know that this isn’t where we’re at and we want to prove them wrong.
So you have articles up in the change rooms?
Just so the girls can see that sort of stuff and use it as a drive. We think we’re certainly going to make finals and we want to be really competitive this year. It doesn’t matter what the outsiders say as long as we believe, inside the four walls, that we can do it. That’s what matters.
You have a big test in round one against Brisbane at the Gabba?
I think it is a really big game for round one, probably the biggest round one opponent that we’ve had across the six years previously. It will be a big test going over to Brisbane, we haven’t played there since 2018. It will certainly be a test and we’ve got a lot of hard games in our fixture. We know we have to beat the best teams to be the best, and if we can get a few wins, on the road especially, against some of those tougher teams, that will put us in good stead at the end of the season.
Who wins first flag between you and the men?
I’m going to have to say the men, as I want them to win it this year, and that will be just before our first flag.
You took your game to a higher level last season. How much extra potential do you have this year and what do you done to improve your game even more?
There will probably be a bit of extra attention and maybe even a tag or two. The fact that we’ve still got Kiara Bowers running through the midfield…most teams won’t have more than one tagger. It will either be myself or Turbo or even Gabby O’Sullivan, who has been flying this pre-season. Our midfield is really strong and I know we’ll all support each other. We’ve certainly spoken about how we’re going to crack that and it’s as a team and working together.
How has your pre-season been with the calf injury?
It has unfortunately been a bit of an interrupted pre-season. A few niggles here and there but missing out on the pre-season games was probably more to avoid aggravating it any further and not putting it at risk. I’ve had a good couple of weeks on the track and I’m feeling really strong and ready to go.
Madi Scanlon and Megan Kauffman are the two debutants, what are you expecting from them?
They’re both ripper players. Madi was just announced as a debutant today, she’s a good young player coming through and has slotted into our backline seamlessly. Meg has blown everyone away this pre-season. She works incredibly hard so it’s no surprise how good she really is. Coming from amateur football straight into AFLW, you wonder if she’ll have that impact straight away, but she’s just come in with her professionalism and drive to improve herself. She’s kicked all of our goals in our pre-season games so she’s primed to be really damaging this season.
What do you think is the biggest area of improvement Freo will see this season?
I think it’s bringing our middle range and lower range players up to the next level. We haven’t had the best hands in the drafts in the past couple of years so we’ve really had to focus on the development of those players and I think to win a premiership or really contend for one, you have to have a really strong spread across the ground, you cant have a couple of stars just pulling everyone along. It has to be an absolute team effort and you’re only as good as the 30th player on your list. That’s how we’re approaching it.
NAT FYFE
No WAFL this week, do you have enough prep with just one game at AFL level? Is that enough to sustain you through finals?
We hope that one run is enough. Ideally, I would have had a bigger lead into my first finals series in six years, but I’ve had one game and I’ll train this Saturday to try and get as many minutes at a high intensity forward craft as I can and hopefully that’s enough.
You’ve been through finals before, does this feel like a good lead in for you?
It’s good to be back in finals. It’s been a long time coming. The last final I played, my body was a bit hampered and this one, I’m going to have a few other challenges but we’ve got the chance for a long September and it’s a good feeling.
There was talk that Fremantle had stopped playing with freedom a month ago. You seem to have that back in the past couple of weeks. How can you take that into finals with everything on the line?
We want to make sure our younger players understand that finals footy intensity goes up with more on the line. But the game itself doesn’t change much. We can still play with that freedom and lightness. We’ll have a home final with about 50,000 Fremantle supporters in the ground, so the atmosphere is going to be unreal. We’ll keep encouraging our players to treat it like a normal game and the preparation stays the same and ability to execute should stay the same.
You played a final with a broken leg (against Hawthorn in 2015), how much confidence does that give you heading into your next final?
A little bit, I would have liked a better lead-in to what’s going to be the biggest game I’ve played in six seasons. I was talking to Hayley (Miller) before, sometimes things don’t quite line up exactly as you’d like but I’m fit enough to play, albeit in a slightly different role to the last time I’ve played in a final. The opportunity to play finals footy again is exciting enough and one I’ll really jump on.
You enter the finals series not being the main man. You have the whole team around you, what does that look like?
It looks different, David Mundy and Michael Walters, we all have slightly different roles to when we last stepped out. Our leadership to be able to set our group up to allow them to play to their strengths and support them at the really difficult times, like when we were down by 30 odd points at the weekend (against GWS). It’s being stable enough in our messaging and our application that we can hang in and do enough to win games like that.
Andrew Brayshaw got a really nice complement from the AFL players winning the MVP last night. How have you seen his development?
I think that was a culmination of a number of years of really hard and intense work from Andy. He’s everything you’d want a younger player to be. He turns up, does the work, he’s really consistent in his application on and off field. He doesn’t make many mistakes. Last night to be recognised by the broader playing group as the best player in the competition, I think is due recognition.
How much does the talent at the club excite you?
I think that we’ve worked really hard to get our list into the position it has been. Both the calibre of people on field and the people that were brought in (off the field). Ideally, we that will turn into four or five years
of sustained finals footy which gives us the best chance of winning one or multiple premierships. That’s down the track as a part of our strategic plan. For now, we’re looking forward to playing next weekend in our first final.
Being so long out of finals action, what’s it like for you feeling that again after so long?
It’s good. The last six years, we’d have mad Monday this time of year. To not be in that position and playing September footy, it’s why we play. I’ve played 200 odd games and the only games I really want to play in are in finals for our footy Club and we get an opportunity next week.
How important are the tall forwards to Freo’s hopes?
Pretty critical, our tall forwards give us a starting point for our structure going forward. I think Rory (Lobb) has trained well over the weekend and should be available. Griffin (Logue) and Matt (Taberner) are different challenges to face. We’ve got enough options with Bailey Banfield and myself, players who are third talls and slightly smaller options.
What is JL like as a person? Does he have a sense of humour, we don’t see much on camera?
He’s a really methodical coach who really understands footy and the economics of footy quite well. He’s been around West Coast and Collingwood when they’ve gone deep into September. He brings some good experience at the business end of the season. He’s also pretty funny behind closed doors.
Pirate Life celebrates Freo finals with a Wharfie Draught
Brilliant Brayshaw wins the AFL Player MVP!
Open training session this Saturday
