Fremantle will take extra time to familiarise themselves with the SCG ahead of Saturday’s clash with Sydney, according to Senior Coach Justin Longmuir.
Fremantle last played at the ground in 2018, and 10 of Fremantle’s selected 22 from last week’s win against Hawthorn have never played at the ground, including the likes of Lachie Schultz, Hayden Young, Michael Frederick and Sam Switkowski.
An additional five players have only played there once at the ground which is the shortest of all grounds in the AFL at 155m.
“We touched on it (in meetings) as it’s quite a unique ground,” Longmuir said.
“We played at the Gabba a couple of weeks ago, although the SCG is a bit shorter, it’s similar in terms of being a cricket oval. It’s going to be an unfamiliar environment for a lot of our boys but we’ll be right.
“We’ll get there on captains run and look to do a bit of familiarisation and do a few drills that help us execute at the ground. We’ll always try and do that.”
Longmuir said the ground dimensions do add greater importance to aspects of Fremantle’s game.
“After you drive out of a centre bounce, you can get a deep entry,” Longmuir said
“It becomes a bit more of a front half/back half game. We need to be able to lock the ball in our front half and we need to be able to buffer Sydney’s pressure in our back half.
“Owning the corridor is something we try and do all the time, so that won’t change.”
Speaking on 96FM, Young said he couldn’t wait to play at the famous ground.
“I’ve never played there. I don’t think I’ve ever played in Sydney,” Young said.
“I don’t mind the short ground. It’s going to be good to play there I’m looking forward to it.”
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