Port Adelaide has been rampant in recent wins against Carlton and Richmond, but Fremantle senior coach Ross Lyon reminded everyone that his side wouldn’t be so easy to push aside.
The Power registered a 103-point win over the Blues in round 22 and defeated the Tigers by 57 points in an Elimination Final last weekend.
Those performances caught Lyon’s eye.
“They were really impressive, a super team, everything we thought,” he said.
“They demolished Carlton and they demolished Richmond.”
But the Freo senior coach was quick to remind all of Freo’s capabilities.
“We’d like to think we’re a different proposition than Carlton or Richmond,” he said.
“We feel we’ve got all the mechanisms to handle what they (Port) throw at you.
“But you’ve got to bring that to life.”
Lyon has the evidence to back up his statement, given his team defeated the Power in round 23 at Patersons Stadium, in between the South Australian club’s two big wins.
Freo kicked nine goals in succession in a match-defining third-quarter to run out eight-point victors on that day, but Lyon said that would be unrelated to this Saturday’s contest.
“We always talk about the past being irrelevant and it’s going to be irrelevant again,” he said.
“How we play is how we play and how they play is how they play. It’s about who doesn’t fumble, who doesn’t drop the mark, who sticks the tackle.”
The Freo coach said tactics were an overrated factor in the outcome of Saturday’s sudden-death match.
“Everyone wants to talk about footy in abstract terms and strategies, that’s not what gets it done,” he said.
“Men win footy games, men who put their heads over the ball and give great effort. That’s what gets it done.”
Lyon expected a physical game against Port with plenty of hard running from both teams.
“That’s what it should be at this point of the season, the best teams are floating around at this point,” he said.
“It will be a fierce contest, it will be a great show and we’re looking forward to all the purple getting there and being as loud as they can to support our players.
“They’ve done that magnificently and I’d expect that to be the same again this week.”
Freo a different proposition for Port: Lyon
Port has enjoyed some massive wins recently, but Fremantle is not Carlton or Richmond