INAUGURAL Fremantle captain Ben Allan believes the club is not far away from success.
Allan, now a board member at Fremantle, says the introduction of young players like Rhys Palmer, Garrick Ibbotson, Chris Mayne and Clayton Hinkley has positioned the club for success.
"With the rejuvenation of the young guys coming in you could mount an argument that we are closer than we were. If Rhys is alongside Aaron Sandilands I feel comfortable sitting next to Rick Hart," Allan said.
"The fantastic thing about Rhys is that he plays the game from start to finish. He plays like his life depends on it no matter the situation of the game and he's unbelievably talented and exactly what we need."
It has been suggested that Fremantle waited a year too long to blood youngsters, but Allan says that early last year was too soon after the group had taken Fremantle to a preliminary final in 2006. Allan and the board appointed Mark Harvey as coach largely to rebuild the list and that's what he is doing now.
"To throw everything out after that prelim would have been the wrong way to go. It is a new step with Mark Harvey and the way he's developing the list and that's really why he was selected as coach," he said.
"It's almost the most exciting thing that has happened to the club in the last five years and hopefully it sets us up for a long time. I'm now more confident than any other time in the history of Fremantle that we're getting things right."
Sunday's game at Subiaco Oval against Port Adelaide will be Fremantle's 300th in the competition and Allan is hoping to see plenty of former players there to celebrate the occasion.
"It's a chance to acknowledge the people that have got us to this point, mainly the past players and all 150 of them have been invited. Gerard Neesham will also be Rick Hart’s guest which is a great thing," he said.
"The past players have all seen the excitement that the young players have brought over the last month and there's rejuvenation among those 150 players. If there's free drink and food, I expect all 150 there."
As for Palmer, forget the psychologist talk he just wants to get out there on Sunday and help Fremantle get a win.
"Every club has one (psychologist), but I personally don’t deal with one. I'm sure it's something we could keep in mind and if the coach wants us to see one, we will," Palmer said.
"The coaching staff has put a lot of faith in me and let me go out and play my own game. That has helped me a lot and I just keep learning by talking with the coaching staff during the week. I can't wait to get out there and hopefully we celebrate the club's 300th game with a win."
