Fremantle open their 2017 AFL season with a blockbuster clash against Geelong at Domain Stadium on Sunday.
The match will be the annual Starlight Purple Haze Game, proudly presented by Fremantle Ports, and will also see the club notch up their 500th game in the AFL.
Digging deep for Starlight
Over 14 Starlight Purple Haze games, Fremantle has raised over $1 million for the Starlight Children’s Foundation.
In its 15th year, Freo players are continuing to pledge for some strong performances from their teammates - including $200 for a Nat Fyfe hanger from Lachie Weller, and $50 for every Michael Walters goal from Ed Langdon.
Fyfe v Dangerfield
What better way to bring in the new season than by pitting the AFL’s two most recent Brownlow Medallists against each other in a head-to-head battle. The last time the pair met was when Freo faced Dangerfield’s former side Adelaide in 2015, with Fyfe racking up 40 touches and Dangerfield close behind with 38.
The midfield battle
They’ve almost been billed as a supporting cast, but Fremantle come into this game boasting one of their strongest midfields in recent times. Alongside Fyfe, Freo has a fully fit Aaron Sandilands looking to give first opportunity to ball magnet Lachie Neale, veteran David Mundy and the emerging Connor Blakely. Add Stephen Hill, who continues to spend more time on the inside, and Bradley Hill providing run on the outside, and you get a quality Freo engine room coming up against a strong Geelong midfield - headlined by Dangerfield and captain Joel Selwood.
The new, and returning, faces
Geelong will come up a significantly different Fremantle line-up to the one that emerged victorious by 17-points in round 17 last year. New signings Bradley Hill, Cam McCarthy, Joel Hamling and former Cat Shane Kersten will all make their Freo debuts, while Fyfe, Johnson and Sandilands make some handy ins after missing most of 2016 through injury.
On Geelong’s side, new draftees Brandan Parfitt and Tom Stewart have been named in the squad and are set to make their AFL debuts, while Jackson Thurlow will return after missing the entire 2016 season through injury, and former Carlton defender Zach Tuhoy will play his first game in the hoops.
The (lack of a) third-man up
Boasting plenty of big-bodied midfielders in Fyfe, Mundy and Blakely, Fremantle has been no stranger to sending a third-man up into a ruck-contest. But a rule change preventing the tactic in 2017 can only help the likes of Aaron Sandilands exert more influence on the ruck contest.
Geelong’s Mark Blicavs was one of the game’s most prolific as a third man up - so much so that he jokingly announced his retirement on twitter when the rule change was announced.
The result of the change will see the ruck contested primarily by the 211cm Sandilands and Geelong’s 206cm ruck Zac Smith.
