Fremantle looks to continue its undefeated start to the season against the winless Adelaide Crows on Good Friday at Optus Stadium.
The Dockers (2-0, 5th, 133.6%) had to overcome a 33-point deficit against the Kangaroos last Saturday at Marvel Stadium in order to remain perfect on the new season.
Meanwhile, the Crows (0-2, 13th, 84.0%) remain without a victory in 2024 after dropping their home opener to Geelong by 19 points.
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Fremantle is unchanged heading into the Good Friday evening clash, while Adelaide excluded midfielder Sam Berry (omitted) and key defender Jordon Butts (injured) in favour of like-for-like backman James Borlase and utility Lachie Sholl.
“I don’t think they are good enough yet to compete with the big boppers,” two-time premiership Kangaroo David King told Fox Footy’s First Crack.
“This midfield is vanilla; they don’t have tackle breakers in there, guys that threaten space – they don’t have magic makers in there.”
Veteran Crow Brodie Smith will play game 250 after being drafted in the first round of the 2010 national draft.
The Crows boast the all-time advantage over the Dockers, 24-19.
This match gets underway at 7:20pm AEDT from Optus Stadium.
Watch it live on Fox Footy (channel 504) from 7:15pm AEDT.
MATCH REPORT
Crows star Ben Keays got the visitors off to the perfect start – after a score review – as he got on the end of some good work by veteran Taylor Walker.
But the Dockers were able to go coast-to-coast as veteran Michael Walters got the big Perth crowd on their feet.
The crowd remained restless for the first term as calls continued to go Adelaide’s way.
Another free kick inside 50 – this time to Ned McHenry – saw the Crow nail a ripping drop punt from the boundary to extend Adelaide’s lead.
“They look threatening the Crows,” commentator Matthew Pavlich said.
“There’s good early signs.”
Reilly O’Brien was proving a nuisence for Freo – and was the man to deny Michael Walters a second goal after Andy Brayshaw took the game on in the centre of the field.
Matt Taberner brought his side within three points before sparking a scuffle on the quarter time siren.
The Freo forward wasn’t impressed with the work of Jake Soligo and let him know about it – by hitting him with the footy.
Taberner was in the thick of the action early in the second term, coming from the field bleeding from the nose, as an “arm-wrestle” broke out between the two sides.
Only a moment of defensive brilliance by Max Michalanney denied Fremantle the first goal of the term, as he landed the perfect spoil on Michael Frederick.
Simple errors plagued both sides as the turnover count ticked over.
It was Walters who finally broke the 15-minute goal deadlock with a brilliant snap to give Fremantle the lead for the first time in the match.
“This ball has lived in Freo’s half this quarter,” Gerard Healy said in commentary.
“They’ve done a fantastic job keeping it in there.
“The scoreboard has not given them any real reward considering how dominant they’ve been.”
By half time, it was the Dockers up 31-23.
Caleb Serong had a chance to give Freo some breathing space but butchered his entry inside 50 as the ball trickled out of bounds.
Chris Burgess couldn’t make Brandon Walker pay for a simple turnover coming out of his back half as both sides were guilty of “sloppy” skills.
But Fremantle couldn’t deny Lachlan Sholl as his snap cleared the goal line and brought the visitors to within a point.
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