Michael Walters has called for a big week on the training track as Fremantle looks to bounce back for his team’s Optus Stadium debut.
Facing Essendon on Saturday night, Fremantle will look to follow suit from the AFLW, where Freo defeated Collingwood in front of a record crowd for women’s sport.
Walters is anticipating a similar effort from Freo fans this weekend and knows improvement is required across the board to do the Purple Army proud.
“We hope our supporters get around us,” Walters said.
“There’s no doubt we’re going to aim to be more competitive this week and we hope to put on a good show.
“You see what a hostile crowd can do to you. Port Adelaide has that hostile crowd and we hope our Purple Army gets around us and makes it hostile for the Bombers.
“There’s no doubt that the home side’s always going to play better when the crowd’s roaring.”
Walters said Fremantle’s skills and delivery inside 50 will be a focus throughout the week.
“We can’t just bomb inside forward 50, we need to make sure we work on our connection and that’s what we aim to do this week,” Walters said.
“Over the pre-season we aimed to make our skills better and that’s what we want to do.
“There’s always the next week and in training we aim to work on that this week.”
Walters says that the pressure is being felt throughout the starting 22 by those pushing for selection, with Peel Thunder coming off a 104-point win against East Perth in a pre-season WAFL game on Saturday.
“There’s always going to be pressure on players and that’s the beauty of our team,” Walters said.
“We have a lot of players in the WAFL pushing their way up, whether you’re a first year or six or seven years into the system, there’s always going to be players pushing up.”
