David King has declared Fremantle can’t play finals in 2023 off the back of what Justin Longmuir’s side has displayed in the opening two rounds.
The Dockers are 0-2, despite a controversial finish in Round 2 against North Melbourne. But from the opening rounds, there are clear struggles with ball movement, forward line chemistry and midfield impact.
All of those were prevalent against North Melbourne, particularly in the first half. King believes the game plan gives no favours to the club’s mix-and-match forward line.
“At Fremantle, they’re saying… ‘listen, let’s not bite off the corridor because we can’t do that’,” the dual-premiership former Roo told SEN’s Whateley.
“Let’s just chip, chip chip, chip (it around). I could show you 20 edits where they took 40 seconds to a minute to move the ball 40 metres forward… to then drive the ball inside 50, a high ball that has low success rate.
“And you say to your forwards – who aren’t household names, Matt Taberner hasn’t done it for years, (Nat) Fyfe wasn’t there on the weekend – to mark that ball. Good luck.
“Luke Jackson would be thinking, ‘what the hell am I doing down here? How the hell am I supposed to catch this’? Sean Darcy too, there’s no way in the world they could do that.”
Jackson and Darcy, who rotated in the ruck and forward, took one mark each.
King also pointed to a lack of influence from Caleb Serong and Andrew Brayshaw, who had 31 and 29 touches respectively, but failed to stop Fremantle losing the midfield battle.
“They’ve gone inside 50 118 times for 17 goals (in Rounds 1 and 2). That’s twice the AFL average, that’s poor. One in four is the normal standard, so they’re nowhere near that,” King continued.
“They’ve been beaten by St Kilda and North Melbourne. They’re not playing finals.
“So what are they learning, what are they doing? That’s my query… unless they take the restrictor off this group they’ll never know what they’ve got.
“What’s happened to (Caleb) Serong and (Andrew) Brayshaw? They get a stack of footy, they become accumulators not impactors. That’s now how the game is played anymore.”
Such is the extent of the Dockers’ problems, King believes Hawthorn may be in a better position despite being beaten by a combined 140 points in Rounds 1 and 2.
“I think the overarching mindset at Fremantle is, ‘we don’t really trust you’. Everyone’s been dumbed down to drones,” he added.
“They’re in a world of pain. Everyone’s talking about Hawthorn, don’t worry about Hawthorn… they’re going all the way back to come forward. I’ve got more faith in that than what I’ve got in the Fremantle model right now.”
Fremantle’s disappointment comes after the club played finals in 2022, the first time since 2015.
The heat will only intensify on Longmuir and the Dockers this week ahead of the Perth Derby against West Coast on Sunday.