Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir has made it clear they will not be ambushed by a weakened Sydney team during Friday night’s preliminary final, saying the players will not fall into the trap of underestimating them at the SCG.
The Swans are underdogs with bookmakers despite having home ground advantage because they are missing Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey and James Jordan due to club suspension while captain Callum Mills injured his knee in the qualifying final.
But Sydney blew Brisbane away in that game, winning by 53 points.
Longmuir said that was all the players needed to see to understand how big a challenge they were facing.
“We’re definitely not going up there and getting ambushed by what they’re trying to do. We’ve seen it the last couple of weeks and seen it work really well,” Longmuir said.
“Clearly they haven’t lost any of their scoring power. All I can go on is what I saw in the last two games. They’re playing like a really galvanized team, playing great spirit, great physicality and to see them put 140 points on the flag favourites in the first final was a pretty impressive effort.”
Longmuir has urged his players to embrace the pressure and chaos of the finals and not be afraid to make mistakes.
He said it is important for everyone to be brave when they have the ball.
“We play such an imperfect game,” he explained.
“At our best, we’ll turn the ball over 25% of the time in a game. At our best we’ll turn the ball over by hand 20% of the time.
“We play such an imperfect game. If we’re going to make mistakes, let’s make sure we make mistakes by playing our way and playing with the right mindset, because usually those mistakes you can move on from a little bit quicker. And I thought we did that on the weekend.”
The Dockers are training at Cockburn ARC Oval this morning and all eyes will be on Brennan Cox and Brandon Walker to see if they can do enough to put their hands up for selection after missing the game against Geelong due to injury.
