Fremantle’s main training session on Thursday featured one quarter of match simulation as they prepare for Monday night’s clash with Hawthorn at Optus Stadium.
The two-hour session included the usual warm ups before running through some training drills, with the match sim to round out the afternoon.
Stefan Giro’s return to main training highlighted the session, while Jesse Hogan, James Aish and Stephen Hill also featured as they aim to make their returns from injury.
Some highlights from the training drills included a perfectly weighted ball inside 50 for Rory Lobb, who pulled down a strong contested mark.
Matthew Taberner also showed his strong marking ability after being set up by a perfect pass from Lachie Schultz, with Taberner snapping the set shot from the forward pocket.
Young forward Liam Henry also moved well as he builds his fitness. In one ball movement drill, he led strongly from the goal square and marked near the 50, slotting through the set shot from 45 metres directly in front.
The match sim pitted Purple against Orange, with the Purple team having the majority of Fremantle’s team against Collingwood, however there were some players from Freo’s starting 22 also playing for Orange.
Lining up for Orange, Hill looked to be back to full fitness and took a strong intercept mark early in the contest on the wing.
Purple set up their first score with some smooth movement out of half back. Starting with Luke Ryan, Brett Bewley used his pace to move the ball out of half back to find Schultz on the wing. Lobb marked on the flank but missed his goal on the run from 50 metres.
Lobb soon had another opportunity from the same spot, taking a strong mark and slotting the set shot from 55 metres.
Midfielder Tom North had some good moments for Orange. After winning the ball out of the contest near half back, North would end up with the ball again and goal on the run, benefitting from some clever play by Cam McCarthy and Bailey Banfield in the pocket.
Lloyd Meek looked strong in the ruck contest for Orange against Sean Darcy, however Darcy set up a scoring opportunity with a brilliant tap to Cerra, who delivered to Brett Bewley on the run for a set shot.
As he has in recent games, captain Nat Fyfe rotated through the midfield and the forward line.
