Read about some of the key stats and stories heading into Saturday night’s clash with the Western Bulldogs. 

Changes
Freo in: Ed Langdon, Taylin Duman (debut)
Freo out: Tommy Sheridan (omitted), Michael Johnson (managed)
WB in: Zaine Cordy, Patrick Lipinski, Tom Boyd, Lukas Webb
WB out: Shane Biggs (omitted), Bailey Williams (injured), Jack Redpath (injured), Lachie Hunter (suspended) 

The ladder
Freo: 2-2, 89.4% (13th)
WB: 1-3, 71.9% (15th) 

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New faces, fresh faces
In naming defender Taylin Duman as their fifth debutant for the season, Fremantle will head into the round five clash with the most AFL and club debutants in the league from this season.
Fremantle’s five debutants and seven club debutants lead the league in 2018, consisting of Duman, first-year players Andrew Brayshaw, Adam Cerra, Bailey Banfield and Mitch Crowden and new recruits Nathan Wilson and Brandon Matera. 

Youth v Youth
Like Benjamin Button, Fremantle are getting younger every week.
In round one, Fremantle selected the second oldest starting 22 with an average age of 25.72.
Freo’s round five team is approximately the fourth youngest* at 24.4.
This is despite having Aaron Sandilands in the team, who is the only player aged 35 or older to represent the club.
The Bulldogs have named the youngest starting 22 every round this season, with an average age of 23.3 in round five.
*Melbourne, Collingwood, Richmond and Essendon are yet to confirm their starting 22 however, they all named teams older than Freo’s round five team in round four.

The key for Freo
It’s been well documented that Fremantle has success when it has a connection between the midfield and their forwards.
In wins, Fremantle averages 14 marks inside 50 per game with one mark for every four entries.
In losses, Fremantle averages four marks inside 50 per game with one mark for every 25 entries.
This drastically affects Fremantle’s ability to score, with an average of 101 points per game in their victories and 55.5 points per game in their losses.
Incidentally, the Western Bulldogs lead the league for marks inside 50 per game with 16.5. 

Dogs missing the target
The Bulldogs finished the 2017 season with the worst kicking accuracy in front of goal at 43.1 per cent.
Unfortunately for the Doggies, they’ve been even more wayward in 2018, with a scoring accuracy of 37.6 per cent.
Senior coach Luke Beveridge lamented the team’s inaccuracy in their seven-point loss to Sydney, despite having four more scoring shots than the Swans.
"As much as we admire and have faith in our players, we're not to the level we should be in completing those set shots,” Beveridge said. 

Dogs on the mark
Unlike their nickname suggests, the Bulldogs prefer to move the ball around rather than initiate a contest. The Doggies are second in the league for short kicks, third for kicking efficiency and lead the league in marks.
The Bulldogs tend to keep the contest in the air rather than on the ground, sitting last in the league in contested possessions, loose ball gets and hard ball gets. 

Mundy’s scoreboard impact
More time up forward for David Mundy is meaning more of a scoreboard impact for the 32-year-old, even if the midfielder has averaged one goal a game this season.
Mundy leads Fremantle for score involvements this season, averaging eight per game, up from an average of 5.3 during the past five seasons.
For context, Matthew Pavlich averaged 6.7 score involvements per game in his career and 8.2 at his peak between 2005 and 2012. 

Heatmap: Bontempelli moves forward
Beveridge has been utilising star midfielder Marcus Bontempelli up front more often in 2018.
Against Essendon - the Bulldogs only win this season - Bontempelli spent 89 per cent of his time forward as opposed to his average of 53 per cent in 2017.
This season, the 22-year-old has spent 62 per cent of his time forward and kicked six goals, with five of those coming in the past fortnight.


Marcus Bontempelli possession heatmap. Source: Champion Data