Fremantle coach Ross Lyon is resigned to being without star defender Luke McPharlin against Geelong on Saturday night in a cut-throat elimination final, but he’s excited by the challenge ahead.
The Dockers resisted any temptation to try and play matchmaker on Saturday night and orchestrate a western derby clash with West Coast by comfortably beating Melbourne by 61 points to finish in seventh spot and book a berth against Geelong at the MCG.
While Lyon is confident the Dockers will put in a good performance, it will be without likely All-Australian defender McPharlin who injured a hamstring in the third quarter against Melbourne.
With Geelong’s tall options up forward Tom Hawkins, James Podsiadly and Nathan Vardy awaiting, it gives Lyon some headaches but he is just moving on with what he has available.
“We’ve had a good run all year and I would prefer not to have lost him. And Podsiadly and Hawkins are powerful forwards and Vardy has come back in, so we have a bit to work through,” Lyon said.
“I did watch and saw that (Paul) Chapman has been reported and you see the (Steve) Johnson incident so they will be looked at and they have headaches as well, but that’s part of finals.
“You gather everything and deal with what’s in front of you. It’s disappointing for the players, but as football coaches and teams you’ve got to move on quickly and it’s yesterday’s news and we deal with the ones we’ve got.”
The two players vying to replace McPharlin are Alex Silvagni and Antoni Grover, who announced his retirement during the week and was farewelled on Saturday.
Both have been playing well in the WAFL with Claremont and Subiaco respectively, and in the same game on Saturday had 24 and 25 disposals each, so Lyon has two good options.
“They are right in the mix. It’s an important decision and we will have to look at the structures, and the composition of their team and ours,” he said.
History says the Dockers have never won a final out of Perth and that teams from seventh spot generally don’t go far in the finals, but Lyon knows that counts for little now.
“We are rapt to be in the finals and we get a standard break, we have travelled well and what’s there not to like about going to play at the MCG on Saturday night,” Lyon said.
“We’re in form against quality opposition; it’s pretty exciting from my end. I don’t crystal ball and I can’t predict future results so I don’t predict future results, but past results count for nothing and history means squat.”
Meanwhile Fremantle’s opponents from Saturday night, Melbourne can now get down to work on improving on a dismal four-win season under first-year coach Mark Neeld.
“There has been a massive overhaul in the leadership group and we are led by inexperienced players who will in the end benefit from this year that has been really tough,” Neeld said.