Fremantle received the monstering of their life when they met Geelong earlier this year, but midfielder Michael Barlow guarantees there won’t be a repeat in Saturday’s AFL qualifying final at Simonds Stadium.
The Dockers produced their worst performance of the season when they went down to the Cats by 41 points in Geelong in round 14.
Although the scoreline didn’t make for pretty reading, it was the contested ball count that proved the most disappointing stat for Dockers coach Ross Lyon.
Fremantle lost that key area 185-123 as the Cats restricted the Dockers to just nine scoring shots in a one-sided display.
Barlow missed that game with a fractured cheekbone, while fellow stars David Mundy, Matthew Pavlich, Aaron Sandilands and Lee Spurr were also absent.
Geelong boast one of the most talented and battle-hardened midfields going around, but the Dockers also feature an excellent on-ball brigade.
However, Barlow said Fremantle’s talent would count for little if they were unable to win the contested situations on Saturday.
“It doesn’t matter where you play them. If you lose the contested ball count by 50 or 60, you’re not going to have a positive result,” Barlow said on Wednesday.
“They just monstered us around the contest. It was probably our worst performance of the year and the stats reflected that.
“We can’t have that happening again. I guarantee that won’t be the case.”
Barlow supported Geelong while growing up, and said he particularly admired retired midfielder Robert Scott and current Cat Joel Corey.
Corey Enright and Paul Chapman were others Barlow idolised, but the 25-year-old won’t be starstruck when he fronts up to those players on Saturday.
“We go over there on Saturday knowing they’re the enemy and they stand in the way of us getting a prelim final over here,” Barlow said.
Geelong have lost just one of their past 44 games at Simonds Stadium, but Barlow is adamant the ground holds no fears for Fremantle.
“As far as we’re concerned, it’s a patch of grass and we’ll implement our style and play the way we want to play and try and minimise the effect that some of their real key playmakers can have,” Barlow said.
The Dockers are set to welcome back Michael Walters (knee), Stephen Hill (hamstring) and Nick Suban (hamstring) from injury, but All-Australian defender Luke McPharlin remains in doubt due to a lingering calf injury.
