Senior Coach Mark Harvey has shown faith in his charges for this weekend’s clash against Geelong by naming an unchanged team.
Pleased with last week's win over Essendon, Harvey revealed at his weekly media conference on Wednesday that he would stick with the winning formula for the Cats clash.
"I think it's the first time we have stuck with the same group all season," Harvey said.
"Just from a stability point of view, the benefit of having players playing regularly with each other is enormous and because of a number of factors it has unfortunately taken us until round 22.
“It was significant what happened on the weekend and now we get a chance to pit ourselves against one of the best teams."
Fremantle’s record at Skilled Stadium is imbalanced but Harvey said he wouldn't speak about the poor record to his players and believed the travelling group could take it up to the Cats on Saturday.
"Geelong’s performance over the past month would probably not be where Mark Thompson (Geelong coach) would like it to be and we want to extend that,” he said.
"Provided our pressure or contested ball is there…then I think we can match it with Geelong. I think that's something we've got a lot better at".
Fremantle will embark on its longest road trip of the season, facing Geelong on the back of a six-day break.
The Cats have had eight days to recover and Harvey said the timing and frequency of the club's six-day breaks would be a key part of its end-of-season fixture submission to the AFL.
Round 22 - Fremantle v Geelong
Saturday 29 August 2009
Skilled Stadium - 1.10pm (EST)
FREMANTLE TEAM LIST:
Backs: Greg Broughton 48, Chris Tarrant 20, Marcus Drum 9
Half Backs: Roger Hayden 43, Luke McPharlin 18, Paul Duffield 41
Centre: Garrick Ibbotson 5, Paul Hasleby 4, Chris Mayne 23
Half Forward: Stephen Hill 32, Antoni Grover 14, Hayden Ballantyne 17
Forwards: Des Headland 11, Matthew Pavlich 29, Nick Suban 8
Rucks: Aaron Sandilands 31, Steven Dodd 25, David Mundy 16
Interchange: Matthew de Boer 40, Clancee Pearce 46, Kepler Bradley 26, Byron Schammer 3
Emergencies: Zac Clarke 30, Scott Thornton 22, Jay van Berlo 47
IN: No Change
FORECAST: (Geelong)
Cloudy. Areas of rain, easing to scattered showers during the afternoon. The chance of thunderstorms. Winds north to north-westerly averaging 20 to 30 km/h tending westerly 30 to 45 km/h around midday. Rain at times.
Min: 10 Max: 15
BROADCAST DETAILS:
TV
LIVE on Channel 7 and GWN from 11.00am WST
Also LIVE on Fox Sports 1 from 11.00am
**check local guides**
Radio
LIVE on 6PR and ABC from 11.00am WST
**check local guides**
