Fremantle will get the chance to experience a finals-like atmosphere when taking on West Coast in the second RAC Derby of the season at Optus Stadium on Sunday.
 
According to senior coach Trent Cooper, it will give Fremantle the perfect preparation for the rest of the season and the AFLW finals series, should Freo qualify.
 
As well as their local rivals, Freo face a tough run home against quality Victorian opposition who are all vying for the finals in Carlton, Melbourne and North Melbourne.
 
In round five, Cooper said Fremantle’s inexperience was their undoing against Brisbane as Freo lost their first game since 2019.
 
“If you go into a game against quality opposition without the right mindset you’re going to be in trouble,” Cooper said.
 
“We panicked a bit when Brisbane did get numbers behind the ball and we’ve talked about different ways we could (counter) that.
 
“I think last week we had the fourth-least experienced team in the whole competition in terms of games played.
 
“We’ve got a good core senior end but we had eight players under 22. It’s educating them and not panicking and we needed the senior players to help them do that if that situation arises, to be able to get the result if things aren’t going our way.”

With Optus Stadium set to fill to the maximum allowed 35,000 fans, Cooper expects West Coast to challenge Freo in a similar way to their hard-fought round two RAC Derby clash, which Freo won by nine points.
 
“(West Coast) really played a strong brand of footy and we had to fight our way through it,” Cooper said
 
“The conditions were poor but also we had a crowd of zero (due to WA’s lockdown) so it was a really funny day.
 
“This week, the weather should be great with a great crowd and a great stadium. There’s every reason for everyone to be excited.
 
“Hopefully, we’ll be part of finals and the crowds get bigger then … it’s obviously going to help with that extra adrenaline when the crowd’s cheering and we’re really looking forward to that opportunity.”
 
Cooper added it was great to reward RAC with a second derby after they donated $100,000 to the Lord Mayor’s bushfire relief fund following the round two clash.
 
“RAC have been such a big supporter of both WA clubs and we think back to the first derby where they donated $100,000 to the bushfire appeal,” Cooper said.
 
“They put forward a lot of support to that and we also appreciate the support they they’ve given us. It’s great they get rewarded with a second RAC Derby this year.”