Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir says it is going to be business as regular for his crew this week as Sydney veteran Lance Franklin prepares for a WA swan music on his comfortable searching floor.
Perth-born Franklin is sort of sure to retire on the finish of this season, which means Saturday night time’s match at Optus Stadium can be his remaining AFL outing within the west.
Franklin has scored a whopping 15 objectives in his three appearances on the venue.
The 36-year-old booted eight objectives within the stadium’s AFL debut – towards West Coast in 2018 – and he adopted it up with six towards Fremantle in 2021.
Franklin scored only one main in his most up-to-date go to there – a 17-point win over the Dockers final yr – and he’ll be aiming to make his WA farewell a memorable one.
Longmuir mentioned Franklin’s go to to Perth wouldn’t be a giant speaking level in his camp this week.
“It probably doesn’t come into it. Whether it’s his last game at Optus or not, we treat him the same way,” Longmuir mentioned.
“He’s a really important part of their team, they go to him a lot.”
Franklin boasts 1063 objectives from 352 video games, and can go down as one of many biggest gamers in VFL/AFL historical past.
But his type has considerably waned this yr, with the spearhead booting simply 16.12 from 11 video games.
Franklin was stored goalless from simply 4 disposals towards Alex Pearce when Fremantle beat Sydney by 17 factors on the SCG earlier this yr.
It’s a match-up that’s positive to eventuate once more this week, particularly with the Dockers nonetheless lacking Brennan Cox (ankle).
“Pearcy played on him last time and did a decent job. I suspect that will be a similar match up,” Longmuir mentioned.
“We need to stop the supply and get some pressure on the ball and do the (other) things we need to do to be able to stop good key forwards.”
Sydney (7-1-9) stored their faint finals hopes alive with a two-point win over the Western Bulldogs final week, they usually’ve been boosted by the return of Chad Warner and Jake Lloyd.
Fremantle had been dealt 5 damage blows within the wake of final week’s 46-point loss to Collingwood.
Ruckman Sean Darcy (ankle), Brandon Walker (knee), Bailey Banfield (lacerated knee), James Aish (quad) and Nathan O’Driscoll (calf) had been all dominated out of the Swans conflict.
Hayden Young and Michael Frederick return from damage, whereas star midfielder Caleb Serong can also be again after serving his one-match suspension.
Fremantle (7-10) have misplaced 5 of their previous six contests to crash out of finals rivalry, marking a major step again from final yr’s run to the semi-finals.
Longmuir is urging his facet to make use of the ultimate six matches of the yr to “impose their brand” for longer intervals of video games.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
