Fremantle’s inaccuracy in front of goals in 2021 has been especially frustrating to a team that is starting to show improvement in a number of key areas, according to executive general manager of football Peter Bell.

In an interview on SEN, Bell didn’t shy away from the importance of Fremantle turning around their fortunes in front of goal.

He said the stats show that Fremantle have improved their ball movement and are creating more opportunities in front of goal, but frustratingly, these opportunities are not being taken.

Fremantle have seen their average marks inside 50 increase markedly in the past four years; ranked 15^th in 2018, 14^th in 2019, 10^th in 2020 and third so far in 2021.

For scoring shots, Fremantle ranked 16^th in 2018, 16^th in 2019, 18^th in 2020 and sixth in 2021.

Unfortunately, after ranking second for scoring accuracy in 2020, Fremantle are 18^th in 2021 – seeing their accuracy percentage drop from 62 per cent to 48.8 per cent.

“I think we (rate highly) for scoring shots but our accuracy hasn’t been up to the mark and it’s costing us. We need to keep working at that,” Bell told SEN.

“The pleasing aspect, is an area we haven’t been strong in historically over the past four to five years - we’ve really prioritised it - trying to get the ball inside 50 and getting marks inside 50. We’re doing that, we’re just not converting.

“We’re looking at (accuracy) closely. We’re getting shots in the right spot on the field as well, we just need to convert better.”

Bell added that Fremantle need to improve their starts and consistency through games.

“We haven’t been starting games well, so that’s one thing we can prioritise. That’s quite tenuous, working out what’s going to give you the best start in the game,” Bell said.

“Hopefully, we can get a four-quarter performance (against the Western Bulldogs), that’s been an area of weakness, that we haven’t been able to play consistently over four quarters in many of our games this year.”

Bell said Fremantle would look at what Melbourne did in a 28-point win against the Bulldogs last Friday.

He added that Freo need to expect the Bulldogs to fix any glaring issues from their second loss of the season in only 11 games.

“(Melbourne’s win) is a good template and you learn from what other teams do and the success they have,” Bell said.

“We also know that other teams will adapt as well and they’ll work out better ways to work their way through performances that haven’t been as good as they would like.

“There is a template there and we know that the Bulldogs are a really talented team and a have really strong coaching staff. They’re not going to let the same thing happen again and again (but) there are some things you can pick up on.”

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