Fremantle take on St Kilda on Sunday at Marvel Stadium.
Here are some interesting numbers to look out for.
22 disposals, two goals
Michael Walters loves playing the Saints.
The star midfielder/forward has been best on ground in his past two clashes against St Kilda, with six goals and 32 disposals against the Saints in round 15, 2017 and 27 disposals and two goals in Freo’s five-point win in round three earlier this season.
Walters averages more disposals against St Kilda than he does against any other AFL team, averaging 22 disposals and two goals per game.
Sonny Walters with 6️⃣ #AFLFreoSaints pic.twitter.com/6zkmcgazo8
— Fremantle Dockers (@freodockers) July 2, 2017
5.9 hard ball gets
There are only three players this season who are averaging more hard ball gets than Nat Fyfe in 2019, and one of them happens to be emerging St Kilda ruckman Rowan Marshall.
Marshall is enjoying a breakout season with some analysts comparing the 23-year-old to the AFL’s star-ball-winning rucks Brodie Grundy and Max Gawn.
This season, Marshall is averaging 5.9 hard ball gets per game, the second-highest average in the AFL behind Grundy (6.0 per game) and ahead of the fourth-ranked Fyfe (5.6).
2.052 squad pressure factor
While the number itself is arbitrary (squad pressure factor is a figure derived by Champion Data to measure pressure applied), Fremantle saw a significant uptick in their SPF in their round 20 win against Geelong.
From rounds one to 19, Fremantle’s SPF was the lowest in the league at 1.767 – compared to Geelong, who ranked first at 1.871.
In round 20, Fremantle’s SPF number jumped to 2.095 – the highest of any team for the round.
One reason behind this came via Fremantle’s tackle efficiency. Freo made their tackles stick against Geelong with a tackle efficiency of 68 per cent, compared to their season average of 60.3 per cent.
5.6 tackles per game
So what was behind Freo’s increase in pressure? One of the transformations came at the selection table with the inclusions of tackling machines Bailey Banfield, Mitch Crowden and Sam Switkowski, as well as debutant Jason Carter.
All of these players rank among the top tacklers at the club, led by Bailey Banfield, who averages 5.6 tackles per game.
| Tackles | Pressure Acts | |
| B.Banfield | 5.6 | 22.6 |
| M.Crowden | 5 | 21.5 |
| A.Brayshaw | 4.9 | 21.6 |
| S.Switkowski | 4.7 | 21 |
| N.Fyfe | 4.4 | 20.6 |
| D.Mundy | 4.1 | 19.1 |
| J.Carter | 4 | 13 |
| M.Walters | 3.9 | 19.2 |
| R.Conca | 3.8 | 13.2 |
| D.Tucker | 3.6 | 19.9 |
19.3 disposals
Earlier this week, 22-year-old Darcy Tucker was nominated for a place in the AFLPA’s 22Under22 (you can vote for him here).
Tucker has spent 76.2 per cent of his time in the midfield in 2019, compared to 63.4 in 2018. Many of his numbers have increased significantly, including his disposal average going up to 19.3 in 2019 from 14.3 in 2018.
| Year | Matches | Avg Disposals | F50% | MID% | D50% | Avg. Cont Pos | Avg. Goal Assists | Avg. Inside 50s | Avg. Tackles | Avg. Clearances |
| 2018 | 17 | 14.3 | 13.2 | 63.4 | 23.5 | 4.6 | 0.1 | 1.6 | 3.2 | 1.3 |
| 2019 | 19 | 19.3 | 11.7 | 76.2 | 12 | 7.1 | 0.5 | 3.2 | 3.6 | 2.1 |
