Forget about percentage, Fremantle coach Ross Lyon wants his side to snare enough wins so they are safely inside the AFL’s top eight by the end of the season, irrespective of their for-and-against points tally.
Percentage is set to play a major role in deciding the final order of the top eight and also which teams sneak through.
Fremantle (8-7) start round 17 equal on wins with eighth-placed St Kilda but in 10th spot due to their poor percentage of 97.6.
The Saints boast a percentage of 120.8, while fellow top-eight contenders North Melbourne (8-7, 108 per cent), Richmond (7-8, 107) and Carlton (7-8, 103.7) also possess better percentages than the Dockers.
Fremantle should be able to significantly close the gap on their top-eight rivals when they take on last-placed Greater Western Sydney at Patersons Stadium on Sunday.
The Giants have won just one game this year, and their average losing margin over their past four matches has been 113 points.
With a brutal match against Collingwood looming next week, GWS coach Kevin Sheedy rested bulk players for the trip to Perth, making 10 changes all up.
Jeremy Cameron (back), Stephen Coniglio (back) and Adam Kennedy (illness) were the only forced changes, with veterans Chad Cornes and Dean Brogan rested, and No.1 draft pick Jonathon Patton, Taylor Adams, Devon Smith, Sam Darley and Shaun Edwards all omitted.
Sam Frost, Gerald Ugle and Kurt Aylett were included for their AFL debuts, while Jonathon Giles, Anthony Miles, Josh Bruce, Will Hoskin-Elliott, Tomas Bugg, Jacob Townsend and Mark Whiley earned recalls.
Fremantle made just two changes, replacing injured duo Chris Mayne (calf) and Greg Broughton (back) with Nick Suban and Zac Clarke.
Unless the Dockers improve their percentage dramatically over the next seven rounds, they will likely need 13 wins to make the top eight.
But Lyon isn’t fazed about his team’s poor percentage.
“There’s seven games left. If we win seven, I don’t think we’ll be talking about percentage,” Lyon said on Friday.
“It’s irrelevant to me. It’s a side issue.
“There’s plenty of games to be won.”
Lyon said the mass changes to the Giants’ line-up made them unpredictable, and he warned his players not to take them lightly despite their recent floggings.
“I think the Richmond-Gold Coast outcome is a timely reminder for everyone in this room and our team that league games are really hard to win and, if you get sloppy and you don’t concentrate and execute, you can be really vulnerable,” Lyon said.
