The Numbers Game
2010 – The last time Freo played Essendon outside of WA, the past five meetings have been at Domain Stadium
157 – Highest score against Essendon (Rd 12, 1997)
81 – 81 per cent of Freo’s wins against Essendon have been at Domain Stadium, with 9 of their 11 wins coming at the venue.
72 – Essendon haven’t scored more than 72 points against Freo since round 13, 2012.
8 – Number of players to have played for both Freo and Essendon (Todd Ridley, Dale Kickett, Tony Delaney, Adam McPhee, Dean Solomon, Mark Johnson, Kepler Bradley, Ryan Crowley)
2 – Current Fremantle players to have debuted against Essendon (Jonathon Griffin, Alex Pearce)
Blakely following Fyfe's advice
Last time we met
Fremantle (12.8.80) def Essendon (7.10.52) in round six, 2015
Lachie Neale performed strongly, finishing with 33 disposals, a goal, as well as leading Freo in both clearances and inside 50s.
Matthew Pavlich was busy in the forward line with 16 disposals and four goals.
Chris Mayne pressured throughout the game and finished with eight tackles.
Defender Alex Pearce debuted and finished with 10 disposals and a game-high 11 one-percenters.
On the Crowl’
Both teams are chasing a win, and Essendon midfielder Ryan Crowley would no doubt like to secure victory against his former team on Saturday night. One of the big questions leading into the game is whether Crowley will revert back to his tagging ways against a Freo side with young and experienced ball winners.
Pav’s Purple patch
Key forward Matthew Pavlich will look to continue his career trend of playing quality football against Essendon this Saturday night. Pavlich averages a career high 19.95 disposals a game against the Bombers, his highest return against any team and also possesses a goal-kicking accuracy of 74.24%, with 49 goals and 17 behinds.
Home ground advantage?
While Fremantle face Essendon at Domain Stadium on Saturday night, it isn’t unfamiliar territory for the Bombers as they’ve have played their past five games against Freo at the venue. Freo have only played two other teams – other than West Coast - five times in a row at Domain Stadium. North Melbourne (Rd 15, 2004 – Rd 12,2008) and GWS (Rd 17, 2012 – Rd 7, 2016).
Stopping the seasoned veterans
Much has been made of Essendon’s troubles so far in 2016 given their depleted list, but in the midst of playing a young group lie two seasoned veterans who are leading the way and will be integral to Saturday’s game.
David Zaharakis is averaging a career-high 28.2 disposals a game, nearly four more than his previous high of 24.35 he set in 2014.
Essendon captain Brendon Goddard is averaging 27.7 disposals a game, and hasn’t reached these statistical numbers since his 2009 season with St Kilda.
