It starts in the middle
If it felt Fremantle were always on the back foot against Geelong last week, it’s because they often were, with the Cats winning the centre clearances 8-3. Freo’s three centre clearances were well below their average of 7.9 per game in 2020.

Free kicks
There’s some good news and bad news with Freo’s free kick count in 2020. The good is that Freo have given away the fewest free kicks in the AFL this season. They average 14.5 per game compared to league leaders Hawthorn, who have given away 20.6 per game.
The problem for Freo, is they have a tendency to give away free kicks in one area that tends to put them on the back foot – at the stoppages.
In 2020, Freo have given away 17 free kicks in the ruck contest – the third most in the AFL - compared to three free kicks in their favour.

Disposal leaders
With Geelong ranked second in the league for disposals, it was not unexpected that they won the disposal count against Fremantle 342-282 in round eight.
Freo will face a similar test in round nine, with the Magpies ranked first in the league for disposals, averaging 321 per game. Adam Treloar leads the AFL with an average of 30.2 disposals per game, but the Magpies will be without injured captain Scott Pendlebury who ranks fifth in the AFL with 25.3 disposals per game.

Standing tall
With Fremantle missing a number of their key defenders, a lot has been riding on the shoulders on Luke Ryan, who has been instrumental in Freo’s backline this season. Ryan ranks second in the AFL for rebound 50s and fifth for intercept possessions. He also leads Freo for metres gained with 376.2 per game, more than 90 metres gained more than any of his teammates.

Aerial threats
It was always going to be a tough ask for Fremantle’s talls in the rain on Monday, with Freo taking just five contested marks for the game. The club still leads the AFL in contested marks, averaging 10.8 per game, with Rory Lobb and Matt Taberner ranking second and third in the AFL respectively.