Mark finds it puzzling how teams are assigned favouritism status before the umpire has even bounced the ball to get a match underway, saying the competition would offer some interesting results.
“Going into this game anyone can win,” Mark said of Fremantle's match against the Eagles.
“We’re not red hot favourites.
“This competition will throw up surprises because there are players that are more advanced than others and we are all under different rules at the moment.
“Game plans can be a bit skew-whiff because of the rules, meaning you implement a few smarts into your game to get nine pointers and things like that.”
Having completed his first pre-season in charge of Fremantle, Mark said he was more than happy with how the summer campaign had played out and that he was looking forward to watching the club’s younger players in action in what will be, for some, their first derby. He is also keen to see how well the playing group’s fitness will carry them through the game as they put the club’s new game structures into practice in their first competitive hit out for 2008.
“You do three of four months of pre-season training but nothing beats playing now,” he said.
“It’s about getting the right amount of match time into the players (ahead of) round one. That’s what it is all about.
“If winning comes along and all of a sudden you find yourself in some sort of finals series for the NAB Cup you can then consider going after it.
“From a coaching point of view its now about players rehearsing what we’ve implemented. That will take time and it won’t happen straight away. There will sort of be highs and lows that will come with that. In the end hopefully we come up with the right strategy and they understand where we’re coming from and they take it out (onto the ground.)”
Mark said he had no qualms with introducing the club's youngest and newest recruits to a derby in their first game at Subiaco Oval, believing the atmosphere of the match would be a good learning curve for the group.
"I think it actually benefits young players," Mark said.
"I've always learned off a coach that would always give opportunities to younger players to find out what they are all about. Hopefully that instills some mental toughness in them as early as they can and not avoid it."
The club had a solid 70 minute session at Fremantle Oval today focussing on specific zone skills in preparation for the club’s main training session under lights tomorrow night.
