Freo to test Geelong with speed
FREMANTLE will look to match Geelong’s strength inside the contest and unlock its running game as it attempts to cause an upset, according to first-year midfielder Caleb Serong.
Even with Cats veterans Joel Selwood and Gary Ablett missing, the young Dockers will run into a string of bigbodied midfielders at Optus Stadium on Monday night.
Geelong boasts five midfielders — Charlie Constable, Sam Menegola, Cam Guthrie, Patrick Dangerfield and Mitch Duncan — who stand 185cm or taller and will aim to use their large frames to control contested possession.
The Cats average more clearance wins than any other side in the competition, well ahead of the 16th-placed Dockers.
Serong said breaking even around stoppages would allow the fleet-footed Dockers a chance to attack on the wide expanses in Perth.
“They obviously have a couple out with Joel Selwood and Gary Ablett but the rest of them are just bulls,” Serong said.
“They are really big inside mids and they just love the contest so we are going to have our work cut out in the contest.
“That is going to be a big focus for us going into the game, just trying to match it with them inside the stoppages and inside the contest. If we can do that it is going to create chances on the outside for us to use our weapons and our speed.”
A Geelong Grammar alumni, Serong, 19, has started to find his feet in his first year in the AFL and has averaged just under 11 disposals in his first four games.
He said he would prepare for the challenge against Geelong with the help of some tips he picked up last week against a pair of West Coast Eagles.
“You take so much each week out of different guys you play on,” he said.
“For example, last week on Tim Kelly and Elliot Yeo there are little bodywork tips and ways you can play on them at stoppages compared to other guys.
“I think for me one of my biggest strengths is my physicality over the ball and I have tried to bring that each game.”
Geelong will have to contend with a large parochial crowd for the first time this season with Fremantle fans allowed entry to Optus Stadium.
Playing in front of fans last week against West Coast made a difference to Serong.
“It was an amazing experience, the Freo fans as I’ve been told the last few months are some of the loudest in the AFL,” he said.
“The 30,000 or so that were there at the game, it sounded like 50,000. It was very loud, especially because we were playing against West Coast.”