20 years recognition

The round 17 game against GWS will recognise 20 years of the Fremantle Dockers. Kicking off the festivities on the day will be a past players match featuring the likes of Matthew ‘Spider’ Burton, Paul Hasleby, Brad Wira, Daniel Bandy and Jason Norrish, who is the favourite to ping the first hamstring, according to his old teammates. The former Freo Dockers will be joined by their children in the game of AFL 9s. When the AFL game starts, Freo will be wearing commemorative 20-year jumpers featuring the names of every player to have played a game for the club and the names of members and supporters who purchased real estate on it.

‘Ballas’ on the banner

You might notice that Hayden Ballantyne gets a gig on the Freo banner on Sunday. That’s because the dynamic forward did not have a banner to run through in Darwin last Saturday for his 100th game. Better a week late than never for the indomitable ‘Ballas’.

Unleash the beast

Freo fans began using the Twitter hash tag #unleashthebeast last week, referring to comeback kid Anthony Morabito. But it seems there’s another player who’ll be lining up on Sunday that could steal the title from ‘Mora’. Michael Apeness is a 19-year-old, 199cm key forward who has the build of a veteran AFL footballer. Senior coach Ross Lyon has been impressed by the number 17 pick from last year’s draft, calling him a ‘beast’ at Wednesday’s media conference. And just to clarify how his surname is supposed to be said, the phonetic pronunciation is ‘app-ness’.

Will we see ‘Pav’ and Apeness play together?

If both players are selected, it will be the first time fans get to see the club’s games and goals record holder line up alongside a kid touted as a future key forward at Freo post ‘Pav’. The pair will give Freo strong presence in attack and the beneficiary could be Hayden Ballantyne at their feet.

Pavlich to play on

Will ‘Mora’ get a full game?

Every Fremantle supporter hopes so, but the final call will ultimately rest with a man who claims emotion plays no part in his decision making as a senior coach. Ross Lyon has indicated that Morabito is a chance to play from the first bounce, but we won’t know for certain until 90 minutes before bounce down on Sunday. One thing’s for certain, there will be plenty of support for ‘Mora’ from the Freo faithful.

Welcome back 'Mora'