With Fremantle facing a testing start to the 2018 season, senior coach Ross Lyon has opted for an experienced side to start the JLT Community Series against Adelaide at Strathablyn Oval, 55km south east of Adelaide.
While Freo will play four of their opening six games at Optus Stadium, they also face six of 2017’s finalists in the first nine rounds, and Sunday’s hitout against Grand Finalists Adelaide poses as ideal preparation.
“Everyone’s trying to get their senior players ready for round one, so we’re taking over a good squad,” Lyon said.
“All draws are tough, and we know that, but we really need to hit the line running, whereas last year our first two games weren’t great.
“Typically, we’ve been able to prepare teams and get them up and firing from the start and a big part of that is getting good AFL minutes into the likely prospects.
“What’s been difficult is we haven’t (seen enough AFL minutes) to pick the team, so we’ve tried to reward guys who’ve had full summers and done a lot of footy.”
This includes members of last year’s leadership group in captain Nat Fyfe alongside Aaron Sandilands, Lachie Neale, Michael Walters and David Mundy, while Lyon expects Lee Spurr to start his pre-season with Peel as he builds towards round one.
“Lee’s going to miss and play at Peel because he hasn’t done full football, whereas (Tommy) Sheridan and (Cam) Sutcliffe have, so we need to reward that.
“It’s hard for Lee as he’s a part of our leadership group but that integrity to selection starts now.
“Summer’s great when there’s no team to be picked but 44 doesn’t go into 22, or in this case the 26, so it has been difficult.”
Lyon expects Sandilands to share ruck duties with new draftee Lloyd Meek, with Freo’s lead ruckman building towards playing a full game on return from a hamstring injury sustained in round 15 last year.
After Adelaide, Fremantle is set to play two games against West Coast this pre-season, including one JLT Series clash and a separate pre-season scratch match organised between the two teams.
“Aaron, we think we’ll manage a bit,” Lyon said.
“We’ve got Lloyd Meek going over and they’ll probably split game time, so Arron will probably play a half (game), a half (game) and then a full one.”
Meek’s fellow draftees Andrew Brayshaw, Stefan Giro and Bailey Banfield are also expected to get game-time in Adelaide, while Adam Cerra, who was named in the initial 30-man squad, will stay in Perth.
“Cerra won’t play,” Lyon said.
“Cerra had a shoulder injury (prior to coming to the club) and he didn’t run for 12 weeks. In our world, 12 weeks off for an elite mid not running is a lifetime.
“He’s taken a bit longer to build up, so he’s a bit thinner, although he could probably play. He’ll go at Peel. There’s plenty of time for him to get to round one and play in the earlier parts of the season.”
While the injured Stephen Hill and Sean Darcy missed selection alongside defender Joel Hamling, Lyon expects the trio to get game-time later in the preseason.
“Joel’s a groomsman at his father’s wedding so he won't’ play. The human side’s really important, it’s always hard to balance up but even I couldn't say no to that,” Lyon said.
“Stephen’s just tweaked a little calf so it’s put him behind a couple weeks. He should play the last JLT game or maybe even the scratch match.
“This is Sean’s first week of full training (after a calf injury). It might be next week, maybe a half-game next week but that’s not 100 per cent certain.”
