Fremantle’s younger players will enjoy the challenge of facing a resurgent Hawthorn under lights on Saturday at Domain Stadium, according to defender Michael Johnson.
Hawthorn sit 13th on the ladder, one place below Fremantle, with six wins and a draw from 16 games.
The Hawks head west with confidence after navigating one of the toughest stretches of their season, with strong performances against the AFL’s top three sides in the past four weeks.
Instead of succumbing to their more favoured opponents, Hawthorn emerged with six premiership points from a possible 12 against Adelaide, GWS and Geelong.
It could have easily been a clean sweep for the Hawks. The siren thwarted a last-second rushed behind that would have won the game against GWS and co-vice captain Isaac Smith missed a shot on goal in the dying seconds as Hawthorn went down by three points to Geelong.
Both Fremantle and Hawthorn head into the game as sides going through a rebuilding phase.
In round one, Hawthorn fielded the oldest side in the competition with an average age of 27.58, while Fremantle fielded the third oldest side at 26.44.
Since then, both teams have taken on a youth focus. Fremantle’s round 17 side was the second youngest in the competition at 24.42 years, while Hawthorn fielded the 7th oldest side with an average age of 25.52.
“They are a quality side, you look at the start of the season, they are blooding a lot of youth into their team and now they’ve started to perform,” Johnson said.
“They come over here and we have to make sure we are on because they are still coached by Alistair Clarkson, who is a quality premiership coach, and they have some good leaders led by (captain) Jared Roughead.
“It’s going to be a test for us but the way we have been playing over the past few weeks, we should be confident while knowing Hawthorn will come over and give it their all.
“I can’t wait to get out there on Saturday night, it will be good for the club and our supporters to have a night game. The boys can’t wait.”
Senior coach Ross Lyon gave some insight into why Hawthorn may have started the season slowly, with the Hawks losing five of their opening six games.
“I think Hawthorn’s sustained success was exceptional and there were always going to be challenges that come with that," Lyon said.
"They made some tough decisions.
“When you’re playing finals consistently, it’s hard to get the pre-season in that you need and I think we’ve seen that ourselves.
“We were around in that period, playing finals four times in a row, we had a reasonable period for four years and obviously they were able to take it to another level.
“You could argue that it’s similar, they’ve got a core of really strong players – their youth has been sitting there patiently while they’ve been winning premierships, so they might be a little bit older, but I think there’s some similarities.”
