Fremantle midfielder Lachie Weller is no stranger to applying pressure on game day and says he and his teammates must continue to chase with tenacity if they are to defeat Brisbane on Saturday.
 
The Lions possess a solid group of goal kicking midfielders such as Dayne Zorko, Daniel Rich and Tom Bell to name a few, and Weller says their scoring ability only further emphasises the importance of Freo’s pressure.
 
“The pressure role around the stoppages is going to be vital to help out our midfielders on the spread,” Weller said.
 
“They’re a pretty young group, so at the end of the day we have to compete and win it in the middle.”
 
In addition to their endeavour around the ball, Weller said Freo must also play smarter to account for the loss of key position players due to injury.
 
While Weller was confident in Freo’s ability to step up in the absence of injured players, he said the loss of tall targets Michael Apeness (collarbone), Jonathon Griffin (hamstring) and Matthew Pavlich (groin) will make decision-making and ball movement against Brisbane all the more important.
 
“We’re a bit smaller but we’ll back whoever comes in to do the job,” he said.

Different paths, same destination for Collins and Schache
 
“We’ll definitely have to lower our eyes going into the forward 50 instead of just bombing it in.”
 
Weller said there was a positivity around the club following their win against Essendon last week and this was also due to the continued growth of Freo’s young players.
 
The pacey midfielder had a career-high 22 touches against the Bombers last week and hopes to see continued improvement from his young counterparts.
 
“We’re working really hard and growing every day,” he said of Freo’s youngsters.
 
“Darcy Tucker has come in and played really well and Sam Collins (too).
 
“We’re really happy with our development and just need to keep striving to grow.”