Dented pride

Fremantle has allowed the second fewest points in the AFL behind Sydney this season. The Adelaide Crows have scored 111 and 119 points in the two contests between the sides, however. The stingy Freo defence will be very keen to atone for that on Friday night.

Short break and travel factor

This is a no excuse, anywhere, anytime team. If Fremantle is good enough, it will win. If it doesn’t succeed, it wasn’t good enough.

Missing keys

With Freo’s Luke McPharlin and Adelaide’s Daniel Talia out, both sides will be without the players they usually send to play on the opposition’s best forward. Talia held Matthew Pavlich to just two goals when the teams met in round 20, while McPharlin missed that match through suspension. Crows’ target man Kurt Tippett didn’t play on that occasion, but he will line up on Friday night. Adelaide looks set to send veteran full-back Ben Rutten to Freo’s in-form captain.

Captains of their adopted states

Fremantle’s captain is South Australian. Adelaide’s is West Australian. Matthew Pavlich and Nathan van Berlo will lead teams representing their adopted states on Friday night.

To the winner...

The victor on Friday night gets a Preliminary Final date with raging premiership favourites Hawthorn at the MCG the following Saturday. The side that finishes on top of the ladder is supposed to get the Friday night game in order to give it maximum time to recover should it make the Grand Final. But Sydney instead will play on Friday because the AFL could not secure ANZ Stadium on Saturday night due to NRL commitments. What this means is, should Freo advance on Friday, it will get a full seven-day break rather than another six-day break before travelling again. Not that any of that matters to this team.