Chris Mayne says Fremantle must prevent Richmond easily getting the football out of defence and through to an in-form midfield unit at the MCG on Saturday.

The Tigers’ engine room, led by Trent Cotchin, Brett Deledio, Dustin Martin and Nathan Foley, has been excellent during the club’s strong past month of football.

“They’ve been running it out of their backline and been getting a lot of drive from their midfield,” Mayne said.

“For us it’s going to be important to lock the ball in and seal off their exits from our forward 50.”

Mayne said the dimension of the MCG, which is more circular and wider compared to the longer Patersons Stadium, wouldn’t change what had to be done to keep the ball inside Freo’s attacking 50.

“It comes down to the role of the person for us, making sure Richmond doesn’t have people just sitting on the outside,” he said.

“It’s about players playing their role, locking it in there and pressing up so they don’t have the exits to go through.

“If we can do that and apply enormous amounts of pressure on them, then it will help us keep the ball inside our forward 50.”

Mayne also said Freo’s travelling process had changed this season under senior coach Ross Lyon.

“Since I’ve been at the club we’ve travelled two-days prior to the match and then trained over there,” he said.

“What we are doing this year is having our training in Perth, having the support from knowing everything here with the ground and physios.

“Then, when we travel, it’s really just about recovery, getting the requirements in of physio and massage and then preparing for the game the next day.

“Not doing the training session over there has been a completely different change to it all.”