Yes, Freo finished second last season and appears to be nicely perched for a tilt at going one better. Many of its stars are either entering or are already in the peak performance age bracket.
The veterans, Matthew Pavlich, Aaron Sandilands and Luke McPharlin are training well during the pre-season. They are all proven performers and, despite being in their 30s, they showed in last year’s finals series what their worth to the side is.
The club is also in its strongest ever position on the other side of the boundary line, with record membership numbers in 2013 and expectations that the record will go again this year.
So why now, when there is so much stability in the coaching, playing and administrative ranks, do we say that the club faces its sternest challenge yet?
To coin an oft-used cliché, it’s tough getting to the top, but it’s even harder to stay there.
Freo are not at the top, yet. The club was close in 2013, but as senior coach Ross Lyon, president Steve Harris and Pavlich have alluded to throughout the pre-season, every club starts again from scratch.
In fact, the 16 other clubs that did not qualify for the Grand Final started their preparations for 2014 well before Freo and Premiers Hawthorn. Those who did not make the top eight have had as much as a month’s head start on the Grand Final combatants.
And don’t think there won’t be some great challengers to emerge from last season’s 9th to 18th placed teams. History shows one or two sides that don’t qualify for finals usually climb the ladder to contender status the following year.
Look at Port Adelaide in 2013, which rose from 14th in 2012 to top six last season. Freo itself went from 10th in 2011 to top six in 2012.
The great Geelong side, winners of three flags since 2007, finished 10th in 2006. The Cats have been one of just a few teams over the history of the game resilient enough to sustain such a period of success.
Achieving sustained success is the greatest challenge in the AFL. Fremantle craves it, but the 2013 performance has shifted a big, bright spotlight over the club. Sixteen other teams will be trying to supplant Freo and its conqueror Hawthorn. Opposition coaches will have looked at countless hours of film over the past four months, trying to find ways to break down Lyon’s suffocating team defence structures in 2014.
The AFL has also decreed Freo an elite side of the competition. Seasons can be defined in the opening two months of action, and the League has handed the club a perilous draw.
Etihad Stadium is sure to be a black and white asylum on Friday 14 March when Freo launch the 2014 season against 2010 Premiers Collingwood. The Magpies are talent-laden and will be desperate to erase memories of an inglorious first week exit from last year’s finals.
In round 3, a very familiar foe and venue greet Fremantle - Hawthorn at the MCG. The 2013 Grand Final opponents clash under lights on Friday 4 April. Anyone who thinks the battle-hardened Hawks are vulnerable because of the departure of Lance Franklin to Sydney should re-evaluate. Alastair Clarkson’s side has been the AFL’s best over the past three year’s and will be fired up to consolidate its greatness.
The 2012 Premiers Sydney, injury-ravaged at the end of 2013, were obliterated by Freo in the Preliminary Final at Patersons Stadium. Theaddition of ‘Buddy’, coupled with the likely return of a number of superstars will make John Longmire’s side a major player for the flag again. Freo plays the Swans at the SCG in round 5 on Saturday night 19 April.
North Melbourne, which finished 11th last season, also look set to pose many tough questions to the competition this year. The Kangaroos lost thriller after thriller in 2013. With a little luck, it could have made an impact on the top eight. Freo meets Brad Scott’s side under lights in round 6 at Patersons Stadium on Anzac Day in what is sure to be a fierce battle for the annual Len Hall Tribute Game.
The Carlton Mid Derby in round 7 against West Coast will also be a tough encounter. What Derby isn’t? The Eagles, under new senior coach Adam Simpson, should be improved from their 13th placed finish last year if they can get some of their injured stars back and firing this season.
And whatever Freo’s record is after eight rounds in 2014, the round 9 blockbuster against Geelong at Patersons Stadium is sure to be massive. Not only because it could be club legend Pavlich’s 300th game, but also because the two teams are forging arguably one of the best rivalries in the game today.
Patersons Stadium should be nudging sell-out status often this season, while the purple presence around Australia will also be felt again, just as it was in Melbourne during Grand Final week last year. The club’s membership slogan for 2014 is ‘Own the Moment’. Many moments will arise throughout the year, and it’s quite possible a solitary one could be the difference between success and failure. Supporters will again place their faith in the actions of Lyon and his players to meet every challenge and ‘own’ every moment in 2014.
