Freo’s first draw

Saturday night’s epic contest against Sydney was Fremantle’s first draw in the club’s 412 AFL games. The club had left a footy field thinking it had shared the points back in 2005’s infamous Sirengate match against St Kilda, however that result was overturned by the AFL and Freo handed the four points.

No strangers to draws

Senior coach Ross Lyon and defender Zac Dawson know what a draw feels like, having been involved at St Kilda in the drawn 2010 Grand Final. Danyle Pearce is the other Freo Docker to have experienced a draw. He was at Port Adelaide in its round 23 draw against Richmond last season.

Ramifications of the draw

What does the draw mean for Freo? Effectively, unless another top 8 contender ties a game this season, it renders percentage useless. At this stage, percentage will only matter at the end of the season if Freo is tied with Sydney. The Swans are currently six percentage points above us.

Big return by Zac

Zac Clarke made his statement early in the game with a big mark and a goal. Considering this was his first hit out of the season, there were questions about his ability to run out a full game of AFL. But Clarke was a major factor to the end. It was a huge effort from the big man, who can only improve.

Swingman ‘Johnno’

Michael Johnson has settled in Freo’s defence under Ross Lyon. But the Freo coach has made a number of successful moves out of left field in the past fortnight, and one of them was shifting ‘Johnno’ into attack late in the game. He delivered with a big goal and a set-shot near the end in which any score would have clinched it for Freo.


How hard can it be?

Ross Lyon wasn’t too pleased with Freo’s attempts, or lack thereof, to rush through a behind on Johnson’s final quarter set-shot with the scores tied. Swan Sam Reid soared to pluck the grab and save his side two premiership points. “Punch the ball through, it’s not a hard one,” Lyon said after the game.

Strange game

Lyon labelled the Sydney contest a “strange game” in a post-match interview. It was indeed. Freo strangled the Swans early on, but the hosts looked a superior side for the next two and ahalf quarters. Freo couldn’t kick straight at goal all night. Even Mr accuracy, Chris Mayne, was off target. Sydney appeared to be home when it led by 27 points in the final term, but a late flurry by Freo levelled the scores. The lack of purple and white jumpers trying to rush through a match-winning behind on Johnson’s set-shot at the end also frustrated the Freo senior coach.