Fremantle senior coach Justin Longmuir believes playing at unique venues is of no concern for the playing group.
Speaking at his Wednesday morning media conference, the senior coach said the Club works at visualising venues before traveling to play so it “doesn’t feel like the first or second time” players have been there come game day.
“We will approach it like any other road trip, really,” Longmuir said.
“We’ve had another unique one to Alice (Springs) this year, so we’ve leaned on that a little bit.
"It will be a different sort of feel, but the grass is green, there will be white lines around the outside of it, and there will be 18 on each side, so we will go about our business.”
In round 12 earlier this season, Fremantle travelled to Alice Springs to take on the Melbourne Demons at TIO Traeger Park, the first time the Club has played an official AFL match at the venue.
The fixture was a great success for the Club, walking away 92-point victors after kicking 22 majors in the playing group's largest score of the year (141).
Ahead of the clash with Hawthorn at UTAS Stadium in Launceston, Longmuir said the Club had prepared in a similar fashion.
“We’ve done a little preparation already on what the changing rooms look like, what the benches look like, what the ground size and ground look like, the stadium, and those sorts of things so it doesn’t feel like when you rock up there on game day it’s the first or second time you’ve been there,” Longmuir said.
“That’s something we did heading into Alice (Springs), which seemed to work well for us.
"Little bits and pieces like that, otherwise, like I said before, the oval is the same in terms of green grass, white lines, and 18 per side, so we will just lean on the things we can control.”
Ahead of the meeting with the Hawks at UTAS Stadium, Longmuir said preparing accordingly and giving an in-form opponent respect would be key.
“They are a team that is in really good form, and the way they set the ground up offensively and defensively poses some really big problems,” he said.
“The way we approach our preparation is really critical.”
Bouncedown for the clash is at 11:45 am WST on Saturday 13 July.
