Source :- THE AGE NEWS
Hawks coach Sam Mitchell expects captain James Sicily will spend much of the game on Dockers wild man Patrick “Prancing Pony” Voss tonight.
“I would imagine they will end up on each other for large portions of the game,” Mitchell told Kayo Sports.
Mitchell said he was rapt to see players like Will Day play in his first finals match tonight while he hopes the club’s away fans will fire up in the face of more than 50,000 Dockers fans.
“There is a lot of purple here tonight, but you can see some brown too, there would be a couple of thousand Hawks here, so let’s hope they are nice and loud,” Mitchell said.
Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir has revealed that athletic defender Brandon Walker has been recalled for his first game since round one to take on Hawks star Nick Watson.
Watson is a potential match-winner for the Hawks and the Dockers are well aware of this.
“It is – we’ve lacked a bit of speed in our backline and we feel Brandon brings enormous speed,” Longmuir told Kayo Sports.
“We feel he has just been unlucky with injury. He played round one and then got injured at training the next week, then he’s had a few concussions at WAFL level, then hurt his shoulder.
“We’ve been itching to get him back in, just haven’t had the right moment.
“It might seem like a leap of faith to bring him in for a final but his form at WAFL level is well above the level and he’s been our best player back there.”
Premiership great Michael Voss has praised the discipline shown by the Fremantle Dockers as they try to win the club’s first premiership starting with tonight’s qualifying final at Optus Stadium.
The Dockers are looking to continue their stellar home record in 2026 although they won’t forget that they were eliminated last year by a goal after the siren by Gold Coast.
Voss can see a big difference in the mindset of this year’s Dockers side.
“The discipline has been crafted over the whole year,” Voss said on Kayo Sports.
Age footy writer Peter Ryan is in Perth for tonight’s clash:
The build-up to the qualifying final is underway.
Morning rain has disappeared and we expect passing showers, if anything, as the night goes on.
Flags on top of the stand here at Optus Stadium indicate handy breeze going to the left of your TV screen.
There has always been a storm inside James Sicily.
For most of his career, we have been able to see it.
It has appeared in the arguments, the scowls, the suspensions and those moments when one of the competition’s best defenders has seemed determined to fight the game as much as play it.
At 31, Sicily has not extinguished the storm. Nor does he particularly want to.
G’day everyone and welcome to our AFL live blog for tonight’s qualifying final between flag favourites Fremantle and fourth-placed Hawthorn at Optus Stadium in Perth.
First bounce is set for 8.10pm AEST and we will have live updates plus plenty of post game reaction.
Enjoy the night to come.
