Fremantle's midfield coach Josh Carr spoke to the media ahead of Freo's intraclub hitout on Friday morning at Victor George Kailis Oval.
Here's a snapshot of what he had to say.
A big stepping stone for pre-season with an intraclub?
It’s a little bit different to what we’ve done over the last few weeks where we’ve had the scrimmages and mixed the teams up. It’s about preparation for the season and giving the guys there best opportunity to perform under a bit more pressure and get ready for what’s coming up in a couple of weeks against West Coast and round one.
Are these an opportunity for young guys to put their hand up and surprise the coaching staff?
I think we’re lucky now, over time, we’ve been playing a few scrimmages and playing games so it probably just embeds their roles within the team and the guys that perform their role, week in and week out in the preseason. These games give them a great opportunity for round one. It’s another game for them to perform and perform under more pressure in more of a serious game.
Why no Nat Fyfe today?
He’s been managed. He had a good hit out last week in the scrimmage that we had and it’s about managing him through the season. He’s a bit older than the younger guys so we want him there for the 22 games.
What are you looking for from today’s game?
It’s about embedding what we’ve been working on. You want to see them put everything on the park an implement everything we’ve practised in the off season. It’s not really about the individual performances, it’s about the team.
How do you get the midfield going when you don’t have your number one ruck available?
It’s a great opportunity for someone like Lloyd Meek to give him a go with a different variety of mids. There’s an old fella that’s going to be running around out there in big 'Spida' (Aaron Sandilands). 'Spida's' our ruck coach and he will guide Lloyd through it and help him out.
Who else won’t we see out there today?
Just the guys from the injury list – the guys who are in rehab.
Liam Henry – where can we expect him to play?
He’ll be predominantly forward with maybe a pinch hit now and then through the middle. At this stage it’s about him getting his forward craft right and being ready. He’s been very good over the last three or four weeks and getting a few shots on goals and he’s had a good pre-season so he’s preparing well.
Are there any young guys you can see pushing in?
I think there’s plenty of pressure from a number of guys through the group. When you go to pick your group it’s not easy, which is a great position to be in. As far as anyone pushing up in particular, Josh Treacy’s going well so far with Matt Taberner being out at the moment. He’s had some opportunities up forward and trains really hard. He’s quite mature with his body for a young guy and he gives a contest so I’d be watching that one closely.
How do you expect to use David Mundy this season?
Probably similar to last year. Dave was managed through the games and probably started most games on the bench and then came on and was outstanding so his form this pre-season doesn’t suggest he’s going backwards. He’s a great leader within the team.
How’s Darcy Tucker?
I see improvement in him. He’s come back from a hamstring injury and he will play with managed time. He’s prepared himself super well in the way he’s looked after his body. He’ll get a bit of run and give us some good depth through the midfield.
What do you think of this midfield group?
They are a great group of players to coach. It doesn’t take a lot of motivating to make them better. Everyday they are hitting me up as a coach and Joel Corey about getting better and doing more so we are lucky from that side of things. As far as coaching them goes – and they’ve got some talent so it’s great.
