McPharlin’s late withdrawal

Luke McPharlin failed a concussion test on the day of the game and didn’t suit up. His absence, along with that of Matthew Pavlich and Aaron Sandilands, meant Fremantle were missing 10 All Australian jumpers against a Hawthorn side loaded with experience.

Tanner debuts

McPharlin’s withdrawal allowed 19-year-old Victorian recruit Tanner Smith to make his AFL debut. Smith started the game in defence on Hawthorn ruckman/forward David Hale and performed well. The Hawks in Tassie is one of football’s toughest tests, so playing a first game under thosecircumstances wasn’t easy. Smith showed enough poise to suggest he can continue to develop as a key defender for Freo.

Hawks jump out of the blocks

Games of football can be won and lost in the crucial early minutes. “Hawthorn jumped us out of the blocks”, Ross Lyon said in his post-match media conference. The coach summed it up well. Freo allowed Hawthorn to kick the first four goals of the game from the first four inside 50 entries in afive-goals-to-none opening term. The brilliant Cyril Rioli ignited his sidewith the opening two majors. In the first quarter, Freo didn’t tackle with the same ferocity it had displayed so far this season and were also beaten handily in the important clearance and contested possession statistics. While Freo’s effort was strong in the last three quarters, the Hawks never looked like being headed.

Suban subbed early

Nick Suban was subbed out in the second quarter and replaced by Lachie Neale. Ross Lyon said the change was strategic, not injury related. “We just wanted some bite,” Lyon said post-match. The senior coach added that Suban was under some pressure ahead of next week’s game against Richmond.

Uphill battle

The Hill brothers took each other on for the first time in an AFL game. Both Stephen and Brad wielded little influence on the game however. The Freo Hill had 14 disposals and his younger brother had just 11. Mum Stephanie, who was in the crowd at Aurora Stadium, would have been very proud nonetheless.