The back six and our record without Luke Mac

Dating back to last season’s round 19 Carlton Mid Derby, Fremantle’s regular back six of Luke McPharlin, Zac Dawson, Garrick Ibbotson, Paul Duffield, Michael Johnson and Lee Spurr have all played in the same team in 11 of the 21 matches the club has contested since the game against West Coast.

Fremantle is undefeated in those 11 fixtures, winning 10 and drawing one, against reigning premiers Sydney at the SCG this season.

When any one member of the back six has not lined up in that 21-game span, the club is 5-5.

If you count round 3 this season, when McPharlin was knocked out of the game against Essendon in the opening seconds, Freo is 1-4 when the All Australian defender has not lined up since last year’s second Carlton Mid Derby.

However, the one win came in an elimination final against then-reigning premiers Geelong at the MCG, when Alex Silvagni held Cat James Podsiadly goalless. That should give Fremantle confidence ahead of this Sunday’s match against the Eagles.

Hilly’s 100th

It’s hard to believe Stephen Hill has already reached the 100 game milestone. It seems like it was yesterday that a fresh-faced, quiet kid from West Perth played his first AFL game. That was in round 1, 2009, when ‘Hilly’ booted a goal against the Western Bulldogs and was swamped by teammates. He’s still very quiet, but Hill isn’t so skinny anymore, having put on the muscle required to play AFL on a regular basis.

Multicultural Round

This week the AFL celebrates Multicultural Round, a themed round to recognise our game’s cultural diversity. The Fremantle Dockers have a number of players with multicultural backgrounds, including Clancee Pearce, who has an Indian mother. Clancee is one of seven Freo Dockers who have a parent born overseas. That’s 15.5 per cent of the club’s playing list. Look out on Wednesday for a special edition of Who Is…? featuring Clancee Pearce. Also, you can learn about the cultural backgrounds of all our players in this week’s ‘The Burning Question’ on Docker TV on Wednesday.

Ladder implications

With Geelong beating Hawthorn last week, the top two sides are now both six points ahead of Fremantle. The Cats play Melbourne this week, so they should wrap up a win. Hawthorn has a tricky fixture against Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium. Essendon remains third, half a game ahead of Freo and fourth-placed Sydney. The Bombers and the Swans are expected to win this week, facing lowly Western Bulldogs and Greater Western Sydney, respectively. A Freo win will keep us in touch with the top four sides, who all face fixtures against each other in the run home. The highest placed team Fremantle plays on the current ladder between now and the end of the season is sixth-placed Richmond, who are six points behind us.

The ruck battle

Aaron Sandilands’ return to action has set up a tantalising ruck contest this week. He’ll partner the in-form Zac Clarke against West Coast champion Dean Cox and highlight reel Nic Naitanui. Which duo wins will go a long way towards deciding the winner of the Carlton Mid Derby.