Telepathic Dockers hard to match in AFL

You can shut down star players and unravel team tactics, but overcoming Fremantle’s telepathic-like powers is proving hard to achieve for rival AFL clubs.

The Dockers sit two wins clear on top of the table with a percentage of 155.3 following their 8-0 start to the season.

Fremantle will be aiming to make it nine wins in a row in Saturday night’s clash with the Crows at Adelaide Oval, and midfielder Michael Barlow said the team’s chemistry had played a key part in their hot form.

“All three lines are starting to gel and complement each other really well,” Barlow told DockerTV.

“Across the whole team, we’ve played together pretty consistently for three or four years.

“So you start to really know and really trust each other, what each other do, and what each other’s thinking a little bit.

“It’s just a real privilege to play with the group.

“Every now and then you have to pinch yourself a little bit and acknowledge who you’re playing with and how it’s all going.

“The trust in the group is already at a premium level. But we’re not satisfied. We want to take that to a really optimum level.”

Goalsneak Michael Walters (four goals) produced his best game of the season in last week’s 73-point mauling of the Kangaroos in Perth.

Although Walters and Hayden Ballantyne were damaging at ground level, the work of Matthew Taberner in the air was crucial.

Taberner finished with a solid 13 possessions, four marks, and two goals.

But it was his ability to plonk himself in the right spots that proved even more crucial, especially when skipper Matthew Pavlich was subbed off early in the final quarter.

“It was a good learning experience for all of us in that forward line, especially being so young,” Walters said.

“For Taberner to hold his spot and stay strong and do the things Pav would have done, was great.”

Pavlich (tight adductor) was subbed off as a precaution, and coach Ross Lyon is confident the 33-year-old will be fit to take on Adelaide.

The Crows will be without Sam Kerridge (ankle) and Rory Laird (concussion) after they were injured in last week’s loss to GWS, but Brodie Smith is expected to return from how own bout of concussion.

Should Fremantle beat Adelaide, it would equal the club’s longest-ever winning streak of nine set back in 2006.

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