Fremantle great Matthew Pavlich admits he would be in favour of ditching the draw in favour of extra time.
The Dockers played in an incredibly rare draw on Friday night against Richmond, as neither team managed to score for the final eight minutes.
“I never played in a draw over my 353 games … I’m a no for the draw, I’d play extra time and get a result,” Pavlich told SEN WA Breakfast.
“It adds to the theatre of the game and whatnot. I enjoy the NFL and other sports that do have extra time and get the result in the end.”
Pavlich praised the Fremantle backline for holding on under immense pressure across the fourth quarter.
“Both teams will probably be happy they got the two points. It was an arm wrestle and Richmond in times had momentum and probably should’ve scored,” he said.
“The Dockers’ backline continued to stand up under fierce pressure and fierce amounts of inside 50s, they were outstanding Fremantle’s defence again and it was good to see Alex Pearce out there.”
Pavlich also lamented the Dockers’ scoring power. They only managed 52 points without Rory Lobb, with Matt Taberner well beaten by Robbie Tarrant.
“On the flip side, Freo had plenty of opportunities early in the game to really capitalise on their momentum and then particularly the first half of that last quarter, they created forward half turnovers and had the ball in their front half, they just couldn’t find a target,” he said.
“Their ball-use and the connection, this time last year we were bemoaning Fremantle’s connection with their forward group.
“The forward group couldn’t get separation from their opponent or one another and the midfielders just couldn’t find a target and that’s what happened again on Friday night.
“If you’re Freo, you take the two points and you move on and have to focus very quickly given it’s a huge game against Melbourne on Friday night.”
Hosting the Demons at Optus Stadium will have huge ramifications on Freo’s ability to finish top four come the end of the season.
They currently sit fifth with 12.5 wins after 18 rounds.