Fremantle midfielder Bradley Hill said that Fremantle struggled to adapt to having a significantly shorter forward line against Melbourne on Saturday at the MCG, with star forward Jesse Hogan going down early with a footy injury.
The loss of Stephen Hill after half time exacerbated Freo’s injury woes, with Bradley Hill admitting that the team struggled to keep up late in the 14-point loss.
The running midfielder, who had 31 disposals on the day, said that Fremantle needed to adapt and give their smaller forwards a fighting chance with their inside 50 entries.
Freo took just six marks inside 50 from 44 entries while Melbourne had 13 marks inside 50 from 68 entries.
“They were a lot taller than us with Jesse our key forward going down early,” Hill said.
“I thought we could have been a bit better with our entries for our forwards, probably could have put it along the ground or even just a little bit lower.
“We were delivering too high in the air and they were out-marking us, so we could have helped them out a little there and they were really good down back.”
Fremantle held a one-point lead at three-quarter time and, at the time, had the best record in final quarters in the AFL.
But Melbourne overpowered Freo at the end, kicking the final three goals to secure the win.
“With a couple of the boys going down early, it was probably the reason they were able to run over the top of us later in the game,” Hill said.
“Normally, we’ve been a pretty handy last quarter team. Me personally, I felt it was a little bit of a struggle to grind in that last quarter with having two fewer rotations.”
Hill praised the efforts of young ruckman Sean Darcy for his efforts up against star-Demon Max Gawn.
Darcy had matched Gawn up until three quarter time before Gawn’s class shone through in the final term.
Hill praised Darcy for standing up in one of the biggest tests in the AFL.
“Sean’s building his game, he’s played two games in a row and he’s been fantastic for us,” Hill said.
“Gawn is one of the best players in the competition and one of the best rucks.
“Sean will learn from that and we’ll see him continue to improve. I thought he was outstanding today.”
