Regardless of the result of Saturday’s NAB Cup semi- final against St Kilda at Etihad Stadium, Fremantle CEO Steve Rosich has sought an assurance from the AFL that the club’s round four game in the pre-season competition can be played in Perth.

After Sunday’s thrilling four-point round two NAB Cup win over North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium, Fremantle was scheduled to travel to the same venue on consecutive weekends to take on the 2009 AFL grand finalists in round three of the pre-season competition.

“In the event of a win over St Kilda on Saturday night, our preliminary discussions with the AFL indicate that we are a strong possibility of hosting the NAB Cup Grand Final at Subiaco Oval,” Rosich said.

“We believe this prospect is only fair given the travel burden our young team will have undertaken in round two and round three of the NAB Cup.

“If it eventuates, Fremantle members and supporters, and the WA football public would turn out in force and strongly support a NAB Cup Grand Final played in Perth.

“If we were to lose to St Kilda on Saturday night, we also anticipate playing our final pre-season game in Perth, possibly at Fremantle Oval”.

Rosich also said that because Subiaco Oval was not available for Fremantle’s round three NAB Cup fixture, the club had requested that last Sunday’s game against North Melbourne be played in Perth to mitigate the possibility of the team having to travel to Melbourne on consecutive weekends.

“With Subiaco Oval’s ground manager, the WA Football Commission, having booked out the venue for two AC/DC concerts, late last year we raised with the AFL the possibility of playing our round two NAB Cup fixture against North Melbourne at Subiaco Oval instead of Etihad Stadium,” he said.

“But we were advised that this was not possible, resulting in us travelling to Melbourne on consecutive weekends of the pre-season.”

Regardless of the outcome of that decision, Rosich said the club was pleased that the team, which included 12 first and second year players, had defeated North Melbourne and secured a NAB Cup semi-final berth.

“We will use the challenge of flying back to Melbourne, four days after our return from the Kangaroos’ game, as a learning experience for our young squad as this is something that can occur in an AFL finals series,” he said.

“In the meantime our Match Committee will again rest and rotate players as we continue with our focus of preparing for round one of the home and away season.”

*For WA viewers, TV coverage of Fremantle’s semi-final clash with St Kilda on Saturday is as follows:

Fox Sports - 4.30pm (WA time)

Channel 10 - 6.00pm (WA time)

**Match tickets and game information for round four of the pre-season competition will be emailed to members on Sunday 7 March.