SEN WA’s Mark Duffield wasn’t impressed by Fremantle’s opening unofficial practice match performance against Adelaide.
While they’re only beginning to warm up for Round 1, Duffield feels the Dockers would have been disappointed to have gone down by 11 points given where both sides were at last season.
“I think Fremantle are in pretty good shape,” Duffield told SEN SA The Run Home.
“But I think they’ll be pretty disappointed being beaten by Adelaide, that’s not to disrespect the Crows but they were towards the bottom last year and Fremantle were in the top six.”
After losing Rory Lobb in the trade period to the Western Bulldogs, Duffield believes the Fremantle forward line is the “unsolved riddle” for coach Justin Longmuir as new faces earn their opportunity inside 50.
“The big unsolved riddle for Fremantle I think is the forward line, the good signs there were Nathan Fyfe kicking three – and he kicked three in the previous match simulation, so that’s promising,” Duffield said.
“Luke Jackson looked reasonable forward and good in the ruck, so that’s promising.
“But I do think to push any further up than they were last year, they’re going to be asking a lot of Jye Amiss who at the end of the day is a 19-year-old in his second season of AFL football.”
With a lot resting on the shoulders of young players, Duffield says he expects Fremantle not to decline in 2023 but plateau after making a Semi Final last season.
“So, I tend to think Fremantle will plateau a bit this year, I didn’t see anything the other night against Adelaide to dissuade me from that,” Duffield said.
“I’d be surprised if they didn’t play finals, but I’d also be surprised if they were alive any further than the second week of finals.
“I think the big push may come next year rather than this year.”
Fremantle continues to gear up for the season proper when they face Port Adelaide in a practice match on Thursday ahead of their Round 1 matchup against St Kilda on March 19.