Nat Fyfe (21 disposals, 13 contested, 4 clearances, 8 inside-50s) v Scott Selwood (16 disposals, 10 contested, 6 tackles, 6 clearances)
West Coast’s best tagger was sent to Fyfe, and while the pair fought out an even contest, Freo’s other midfielders cut loose:
Michael Barlow (27 disposals, 14 contested, 9 tackles, 6 clearances)
David Mundy (27 disposlas, 14 contested, 9 handball receives, 10 tackles, 6 clearances, 6 inside-50s)
Stephen Hill (25 disposals, 17 uncontested, 13 handball receives, 5 clearances, 7 inside-50s)
Danyle Pearce (23 disposals, 15 contested, 6 clearances, 2 goals)
Nick Suban (19 disposals, 12 contested, 5 tackles, 3 goals)
*22 handball receives to Mundy and Hill. No surprises which players’ hands Ross Lyon wants his side to get the ball into.
Mundy went head-to-head with West Coast’s primary ball-winner Matt Priddis. While Priddis had 28 disposals, Mundy was far more damaging, especially on the spread.
Ryan Crowley v Luke Shuey (12 disposals, 8 contested, 6 clearances)
Shuey averaged 23 disposals per game in 2012, so chalk up victim number one for Crowley in 2013.
The match-ups - Defence
Ross Lyon sent Luke McPharlin to young West Coast forward Jack Darling, while Zac Dawson started on Josh Kennedy. The thinking here would have been based around Darling being a more athletic leading forward, better suited to McPharlin’s physical attributes. Dawson prefers to play on a marking target, where his excellent spoiling skills can come to the fore. The match-ups switched around later in the match.
A goalless Darling was not a factor in the game, while Kennedy battled hard all night for 19 disposals, 8 marks and 2 goals.
Swing in momentum
After being outplayed in the first quarter, Fremantle completely turned things around in the next two terms to take a commanding lead into the fourth. Here’s a statistical breakdown of how the pendulum swung the purple way in the second and third quarters.
Key Performance Indicators at Quarter-Time – West Coast 23 led Freo 12
Contested possessions: West Coast 39-32
Clearances: West Coast 11-7
Inside-50s: West Coast 12-10
Key Performance Indicators at Three-Quarter-Time – Freo 76 led West Coast 52 (swing +35 Freo)
Contested possessions: Level on 113 (swing +7 Freo)
Clearances: Fremantle 29-28 (swing +5 Freo)
Inside-50s: Fremantle 48-26 (swing +24 Freo)
Interesting stat
In the two games between the clubs in 2012, Freo averaged 146.5 contested possessions to 159.5 uncontested possessions per game.
West Coast had far more uncontested possessions per gameover the two matches, averaging 220 to just 132 contested.
On Saturday, Fremantle had 153 contested possessions to West Coast’s 154.
But there was a big discrepancy in uncontested possessions, with Ross Lyon’s men winning 186 to 137.
