Fremantle have made no changes to the side that defeated West Coast last Sunday.
Fremantle faces one of the AFL’s most difficult away missions against the Lions on Saturday, making the long trip to Queensland and playing off a six-day break at a venue the team has never tasted victory at in eight previous attempts.
But Mark Harvey’s side is travelling nicely in 2010, currently sitting in the top four with a 5-1 win/loss record and a confidence level that seems to be growing by the week.
However, the Fremantle coach was well aware of the challenges that still awaited his young squad, with the Lions encounter the first of a tough three-game stretch which includes matches against top eight sides Collingwood and Sydney.
“We’ve got a really tough three weeks ahead of us, and more so with this week against Brisbane,” Harvey said. “You learn not to get carried away with where you are at. But it’s important to that we stamp ourselves and we have early.”
Harvey said it would now be crucial that the team maintained the consistent level of football it had played in the first six weeks of the season.
“You just make sure that you play to the standard and if we can better that over the next three weeks, that would be pleasing.”
And there has been no talk about playing finals around the club.
“We are an injury or two away to some of our key players and then, all of a sudden, you have to re-assess everything,” Harvey said. “We’ll just keep ploughing ahead with what we are doing and make sure that we can sustain what we are doing.”
Saturday night’s clash will feature three of the AFL’s top four goalscorers so far in 2010.
Opposing captains Matthew Pavlich and Jonathan Brown currently lead the race for the 2010 Coleman Medal with 24 goals each. Brisbane full-forward Brendan Fevola is fourth with 21.
