Aaron Sandilands began Sunday’s game in the forward line, where he towered over the undersized Saints’ backline. The big man repeatedly got his giant hands on the footy, but the rust of not having played an AFL game this season was evident, as he couldn’t quite glove the Sherrin. While ‘Sandi’ has a fair bit of improvement left in him, one thing that remained the same was his imposing 211cm frame, which St Kilda forward Tom Lee felt the full brunt of in this first quarter collision.
Pav returns
Matthew Pavlich was the other big comeback game on the weekend. ‘Pav’ started slowly, but as he has done many times in his decorated career, the skipper stood tall when his team needed him most. With the game in the balance in the third quarter, he booted two crucial goals in the space of a minute to ignite Fremantle.
Fyfe career high
Nat Fyfe was everywhere on Sunday, collecting 35 disposals against the Saints. That was the most touches the brilliant midfielder has had in a single game since his debut in 2010.
Umpire creates a St Kilda turnover
With Fremantle set to go into attack, former St Kilda defender and current field umpire Leigh Fisher got in the way of a kick bound for Nick Suban. The pair collided in midfield, creating a turnover for the Saints.
Luke injured
The bad news to come out of the game was a calf injury to brilliant defender Luke McPharlin that will probably keep him out of next Sunday’s Carlton Mid Derby. Stay tuned to fremantlefc.com.au for further updates.
Saints clamp on the pressure
Fremantle has become one of the meanest tackling teams in the competition under Ross Lyon, but on Sunday it was the Saints who won the category convincingly. St Kilda clamped on 77 tackles to Fremantle’s 46 – a stat that wouldn’t have pleased the Freo coach.
