David Mundy has been the latest Freo star to be thrown into a different position as the team gears up for its opening NAB Challenge match against Melbourne.
Freo played its final intra-club hitout of the pre-season on Friday morning, with the purple team easily accounting for the whites.
Mundy joined Chris Mayne, Jon Griffin, Aaron Sandilands, Jack Hannath and Zac Clarke as players who have been thrown into different positions.
The Freo midfielder had a spell as a half-back during the second half and didn’t look out of place when bursting out of defence.
“All through pre-season a lot of the guys have trained in different positions to try and get a bit more flexibility throughout our team so we can do different things throughout the game,” Mundy said.
“I’ve been one of those guys that’s been thrown around a bit and I’m really enjoying it.
“It’s a different kind of facet and I started (my career) as a half-backer, so going back there has been good.”
Mundy’s move opened up an opportunity for young recruit Connor Blakely to swap to the purple team and have an impact in midfield.
Blakely as well as fellow recruit Lachie Weller, who shone in the white team’s midfield, have impressed Mundy.
“They’ve been super impressive along with all the other first-years, they come in with a good attitude nowadays and the underage program has really set them up well to come in and have an influence from the start,” he said.
“They are certainly putting their hand up and have done everything they can.
“Hopefully they’ll get a bit of a run in the pre-season and continue to shine.”
Assistant coach Michael Prior was also pleased with the team’s ability to be flexible.
“I think the players that we threw around and David was one…really adapted to the role,” Prior said.
“We are trying to get that versatility because if you look back to when we played West Coast last year, we had Matt Taberner play as a key back, that came upon us really quickly and he hadn’t had the exposure to the role.
“Hence Chris Mayne going back over the summer and playing that position, Mundy and Hill as half-backers playing those types of roles, it was really pleasing for us.”
Freo takes on Melbourne on Thursday 5 March at Fremantle Oval.
Bounce down is 4.10pm.
