LESSONS FROM LAST WEEK
Against the Hawks our ruckmen got a real lesson from RobertCampbell and Simon Taylor, who really hurt us around the stoppages and gaveHawthorn first use of the ball. This week we come up against the biggest manin the AFL.

OUR BACKS
Most teams create a bit of rebound from their backline andwe need to do that as well as defend. We have created some run from there butwe are also getting scored against so we need to reduce that big time.

In our round 12 loss the ball came in fairly freely fromthe midfield, which put our backline under enormous pressure. Also I think ourdefenders were probably getting a little bit too far away from their opponents.

THEIR FORWARDS
For us it’s a big plus Chris Tarrant is not playing. Butthen you bring in someone like Jeff Farmer, and we just know how dangerous hecan be. You never really know what you’re going to get, but he is the type ofplayer who can kick eight goals first up and have a big game.

However, he is a small forward whereas Tarrant is a medium/tallforward. Tarrant also leads up a fair way and keeps Pavlich back in the goalswhere he can do a lot of damage on the scoreboard. So they are going to have totry to find someone to do that.

We know Tarrant’s work rate is phenomenal for a player ofhis size. I do not know if Ryan Murphy can do it, so they may have to use acombination of players to fill that void.

CENTRELINE BATTLE
Paul Hasleby is their in-and-under midfielder who wins a lotof the ball at the stoppages. Then you have Josh Carr and Peter Bell, who hasbeen a fabulous player over a long period of time. Michael Johnson, on thewing, has also been a real asset for Fremantle.

I think Bell’sinfluence in the game is to create run and overlap and keep the ball moving ata quick pace, which is what Fremantle like to do. So we are going to have to watchboth Hasleby and Bellwhile at the same time not underestimate the other midfielders who have alsoplayed well for them this year.

THE RUCK DUEL
Everyone is more aware of what Aaron Sandilands can do.We’re not saying we’ve underestimated him in the past; rather we've not paid himenough respect and ruckmen have thought that they could jump over him. Nowthey probably set up a bit more defensively on him. I think they also have donereally well to develop young Robert Warnock. We will need to be wary of thatcombination.

Obviously we have got Cain Ackland and Setanta O’hAilpin, whoprobably did not have their best game against Hawthorn, but before that theyhave been giving us great drive out of the centre and helped out ourmidfielders.

OUR FORWARDS
Against Hawthorn we did not move the ball in quick enough.Essentially we want to get it into players like Brendan Fevola, Jarrad Waite andBrad Fisher to give them a chance to score.

While we have a good strike rate once we get it in there, weneed to defend a bit better through the midfield and down back. The forwardsalso need to defend a bit better to stop the opposition’s rebound.

THEIR BACKS
They usually try to get Michael Johnson behind the ball tocreate some run and overlap for them. However, I think it can become a bitconfusing for some of their defenders as they think "he will help me pick up mybloke" and in the end no-one picks up anyone and you look like youhave done the wrong thing. From that side of things, I think they have beencaught out a couple of times.

We just need to make sure that if they do put players behindthere we make them accountable and we play on our terms.

Antoni Grover has had a good year and Roger Hayden is askilful player who gives them great drive and uses the ball really well.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Our mission is to get back somerespect, as a week before the bye we lost a lot of it. Respect is hard earnedbut easily lost. We let ourselves and our supporters down, so this weekend ourfocus will be on getting some of that respect back.

The boys have worked pretty hardover the break and we just want to make sure that when we come up against Freo,in Perth, wegive it everything and get a win on the board.

The views in this story are those of the author and notnecessarily those of the club.