Speed likely to trump extra height in season opener, says Fremantle Dockers coach Justin Longmuir

Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir has flagged choosing extra run above an all-out ruck assault on Geelong, with fatigue a big factor in Saturday’s round one clash with Geelong at GMHBA Stadium.

Longmuir said picking three rucks - Sean Darcy, Mason Cox and Luke Jackson - was unlikely against a Cats tall division of Mark Blicavs, Shannon Neale and possibly a debut from Peel Thunder product Mitch Edwards.

“It’s an option. Earlier in the year, you probably need the extra run. So that’d be a concern with that. It’s probably not a likely option, but it’s an option,” Longmuir said.

The expansion to a five-man interchange bench with no sub has also given clubs flexibility to pick players with limited match preparation.

“We saw that over the weekend. It does give you an opportunity to play someone on lower game time and even someone who maybe is returning, which probably wouldn’t have happened in the past,” Longmuir said.

“Maybe that player might have played sub, but the sub rule made it a little bit tricky, because you didn’t know when that player was going to come on, whereas now you can sort of manage minutes across across the game, and teams have used it in different ways.

“We’ve trialled different things across the pre-season and not 100 per cent sure where we’ve settled yet, because we haven’t picked the team, but the likelihood is one or two players will cop a little bit less game time.”

Half-forward Michael Frederick has been ruled out and might miss up to a month with an ankle injury, opening the door for a possible debut for an AFL debut for mature age Geelong VFL product Tobyn Murray, draftee Adam Sweid or pre-season pick Chris Scerri.

“He’s disappointed, he’s done really every minute of pre-season and to get hurt in the last training session of pre-season before the first week,” Longmuir said of Frederick.

“He’s moved on. He’ll rehab it really well and hopefully we’ll get him back soon.

“We have a lot of small forwards that have been in good form, so there’ll be some competition for spots if we go that way.”

The Cats are set to welcome back Jeremy Cameron (quad) and Patrick Dangerfield (calf) and could field as many a 20 players from last year’s grand final loss.

Either way, Longmuir expects the Cats to respond strongly after a disappointing 56-point opening round defeat to Gold Coast.

“I expect them to bounce back. Sometimes in those games and the way that played out in the weekend, the scoreboard can look a bit worse than what it actually was,” Longmuir said.

“We’re expecting them to be a lot better than that. They just probably didn’t get some of the little things right, which made it look like the big things fell apart.”

The Dockers have won two of their past three games at GMHBA but were thrashed by the Cats at that venue to open last season.

Longmuir said the thinner Geelong ground, which regularly troubles visiting teams, had been spoken about but it wasn’t a focus.

“Sometimes you get caught up in those little things when you go down to Geelong with the ground size and this and that, and all the stuff that doesn’t actually help you win,” Longmuir said.

“We touch on it but most of our time is spent on what we do within the ground.

“We got a taste of footy over the weekend, obviously. So yeah, players are excited to get out there and show what they’ve worked on over the pre-season and start banging some bodies from other teams.”

Longmuir said there was nothing in the opening round - which was marked by quick end-to-end high ball movement and high scores - that surprised the Dockers’ brains trust.

“The early games when fatigue plays a big part in it tend to open up late in games. You sort of expect it, it’s pretty much the same e very year. The game can look really open and really fast at times,” he said.

“It seems to be whoever can trust themselves and make good decisions tend to capitalise in those moments.”

He said defenders Alex Pearce (calf) and Luke Ryan (shoulder) had to get through training to prove their fitness.

“With Luke, it comes down to selection a little bit more. So, yeah, we’ll see how it plays out. He’s got some good competition for spots down there,” he said.

“The Geelong forward line is probably a little bit unknown with Cameron and Dangerfield coming back.”

The Dockers coach said competition for spots was tight.

“Feels like a lot of players have had really good summers and they’d be really disappointed to miss out round one,” he said.

“We’ve spoken about, like, round one is just one game throughout the year, it gets built up a lot, even internally amongst the players, but it’s only one game.

“Players that miss out this week will get plenty of opportunities throughout the year, but I feel like our depth has grown, and we’ve got competition for sports in all areas.

“We’ve got high expectations internally. We want to build off what we did last year, so we’re not shying away from that fact.

“Just focusing on outcomes and finals and where you finish at the end of the year doesn’t help you win right now. And that’s what we’re about. We’re about getting our processes right, which allow us to win week in, week out, and focusing on this week. And that’s all you can do in club land.”