Senior Coach Mark Harvey has staunchly defended his team in the wake of the Round 1 loss to Collingwood at the MCG.

“We just played a top four side from last year and everyone wants to jump on you. Only one team won on the road (in Round 1) and that was the premiership team. We travelled as far as anyone – Brisbane travelled a long distance too – so take that into consideration when you actually judge on a performance,” Mark said today.

“There were a lot of positives that came out of Saturday and we’ve seen many clubs have slow starts to round one, round two, round three and then manage to rally and finish up in the finals series.

“It is a long campaign and a lot of things get complicated throughout the course of the season.

“What I want for us is to be competitive and hopefully you get results and success out of it.”

Fremantle will look to square the ledger this Saturday night when they host Hawthorn in the 2008 Starlight Purple Haze Game. Heading into its sixth year the Starlight Purple Haze Game, proudly supported by Fremantle Ports, has become a permanent fixture in Fremantle’s schedule each year which has seen in excess of $150,000 going directly to the Starlight Children’s Foundation.

Launched in 2003, the Starlight Purple Haze Game has seen Fremantle’s players, members and supporters alike don Fremantle and Starlight’s common colour purple to help raise funds for Starlight. As in previous years, Fremantle will wear their all purple playing strip for the Starlight Purple Haze Game and members and supporters are encouraged to do likewise to turn Subiaco Oval into a sea of purple.

Mark encouraged all Fremantle supporters to turn out in purple for the match, saying that the team was looking forward to playing in front of their home crowd for the first time in 2008.

“We’re playing against a really quality side,” Mark said of the Hawks.

“Alistair (Clarkson) has come a long way with his team. He has a lot of young players who are really starting to gel together well.

“But having said that, our guys are really keen to perform in front of our fans and they will.

“It will be an intriguing game that hopefully has it all. We will wait and see how the game evolves but we will be relentless in what we do and our intent will be all about pressuring Hawthorn into doing what they don’t want to do.”

Tickets to the Starlight Purple Haze Game are now on sale through Ticketmaster, www.ticketmaster.com.au or by visiting the club’s Team Store, Parry Street, Fremantle.