Fremantle are banking on a lighter week on the track and oxygen masks to leave them refreshed and ready to fire in Friday night’s AFL semi-final against Adelaide at AAMI Stadium.
The Dockers have endured a hectic schedule over the past seven days, flying to Melbourne last Thursday for their 16-point elimination final win over Geelong, before returning to Perth on Sunday.
Fremantle were back in the air on Wednesday for their trip to Adelaide, with the effects of the travel burden compounded by back-to-back six-day breaks.
To cope with the shortened breaks and extra travel, Fremantle’s training load was significantly reduced this week.
And as they’ve been doing for all away trips this season, the players were equipped with oxygen masks for their flight to Adelaide.
“It just helps them breathe easy with the oxygen in the plane,” Fremantle assistant coach Peter Sumich said.
“Our doctors and physios think it works and the players have stuck with it, so it must be helping.
“It looks a bit bizarre if you’re a passenger coming on and some of these blokes are wearing these funny masks.
“But at the end of the day, it does help.”
Fremantle flew to Adelaide with the same 25-man squad they took to Melbourne for last week’s win over Geelong.
Barring any late mishaps, Zac Clarke, Dylan Roberton and Cameron Sutcliffe will again be named as emergencies.
Adelaide are also set to name a settled side, with a replacement for injured defender Daniel Talia expected to be their only change to the team that lost to Sydney by 29 points last week.
Sumich was confident fatigue wouldn’t be an issue for the Dockers, who take on an Adelaide unit who haven’t travelled since August 26.
“Big Aaron (Sandilands) said it after the game, the way they prepare now and recover, they could move on and probably play again within five days, let alone six,” Sumich said.
Meanwhile, Sumich played down any talk he could join Mick Malthouse’s coaching team at Carlton, and said applying for the vacant top job at Port Adelaide wasn’t on his radar at the moment.
