Fremantle has made one change for Saturday’s Indigenous Round match against Hawthorn, with Jay van Berlo replacing the injured Adam McPhee.
Senior coach Ross Lyon indicated before flying out for Launceston today that McPhee, who sustained a calf injury last week, would likely only miss the Aurora Stadium game.
The emergencies were Jesse Crichton, Jonathon Griffin and Alex Silvagni.
Senior coach Ross Lyon indicated before flying out for Launceston today that McPhee, who sustained a calf injury last week, would likely only miss the Aurora Stadium game.
The emergencies were Jesse Crichton, Jonathon Griffin and Alex Silvagni.
Van Berlo’s selection was the culmination of consistently solid WAFL performances for West Perth this season.
Assistant and senior development coach Simon Lloyd said the 23-year-old could play a variety of roles and be relied upon to give his all for the team.
“Jay’s a versatile player,” he said.
“The biggest thing Ross talks about is effort, and with Jay, you know he’s going to give you 100 per cent effort every day.”
Lloyd said the ninth-placed Hawks, who have won four games this season, were a highly skilled team that liked to play high-possession, uncontested football.
“They like to chip it around,” he said.
“Some of their players have played for a long period of time together.
“Their midfielders are classy. They’ve got some good players that go through there and we’ve got to make sure that we don’t let them play on their terms.”
Hawthorn won the last encounter between the two sides in 2011, defeating an injury-riddled Freo by 51-points in the rain at Patersons Stadium.
Fremantle goes into this contest with the number one ranked defence in the AFL in terms of score against after seven rounds of the season.
