Fremantle defender Sam Collins may have only played two games of AFL football but the mature age recruit isn’t shying away from any challenges that come his way. 

Collins’ debut game against St Kilda in round 10 saw him compete against Paddy McCartin, Tim Membrey and Josh Bruce and against Essendon on Saturday he embraced the task of facing another talented tall in Joe Daniher.

“He’s (Daniher) obviously a really good player and has been in the system for a while now so to go up against him was good,” Collins said. 

“He made sure I was on top of my game in terms of my body work and I had to make sure he wasn’t having a run and jump at the ball.

“It was a great challenge and I’m looking forward to playing on him again in the future.”

Humbled Blakely hungry for Lions challenge

In addition to his one-on-one work, Collins said he felt better about his contribution Freo’s defensive structure. 

Collins finished with 24 touches and 83 per cent disposal efficiency against the Bombers, but said he’d continue to review and seek improvement in his game. 

“I think I had a bit of the footy and felt as though I played to the team structure,” he said.

“I thought my defensive work was better around the defensive 50 and made sure I played a little more physically.

“I had a couple of miss-kicks but I’ll have a look at those and determine whether they were skill or decision based.” 

In the mix: Round 12 v Brisbane

While the growth from his first to second game was a reason for optimism, Collins said the biggest positive from the win came from being able to join his teammates in singing the Fremantle song for the first time. 

“It was really exciting just to get out there and to get the win was awesome,” he said.

“Connor’s (Blakely) has been waiting six games so I’m really fortunate to have that feeling in my second game and it was a great experience.”