The Fremantle Football Club has recently completed its tenth full season in the AFL. It is time to assess the season, discuss what worked, what didn't work, and why we finished where we did.

The Positives

Second Best Season...

Out of the ten seasons played so far, this was the second best. 11 wins and 9th place eclipses the 1997 effort of 10 wins and 10th place, although both seasons saw us miss out on September action by just one game. From this perspective however, it was relatively a good season for the team. Unfortunately it happened to follow our very best season where we finished 5th with 14 victories to our name.

Don't Get Belted...

It is in comparison with that season however which shows us the many positives to take out of the season. In contrast to last season, the 2004 team did not at any stage get belted. In large part this is due to the excellent season our defensive half had. McPharlin, Haddrill, Parker, Grover, Thornton, Hayden all had excellent runs of form at one stage or another during the season.

Troopers Away...

Also, our away form improved as well. This seems to be a direct result of an additional year of playing together as a group. When away from home, with no crowd support, the group is finding it easier to play for each other and each other alone. The trust, morale and spirit stays sufficiently high to overcome teams who have the home ground advantage and all that entails. The highlight was Fremantle's first win at Football Park against the Crows.

The Improvers...

The emergence of certain young players was also encouraging. Luke McPharlin showed that with a preseason under his belt he is capable of All-Australian form. Byron Schammer with a purple patch of form showed us he is capable of dominating games of AFL footy. Scotty Thornton looks like he is finally getting things together and seems close to a ready made replacement when the unthinkable happens and Shane Parker retires. Aaron Sandilands again developed his game and if he continues to improve at this rate of knots, he will be a Norm Smith Medallist one day. Paul Haselby again improved his game (if that is possible) and as a result endured heavy tags for the second half of the season. He will be better for that experience, like when he transcended the tag in the first place. Haddrill is now recognised as one of the tougher full backs to play on.

The Negatives

Scoreboard Silence...

Our ability to keep the scoreboard ticking over diminished significantly from 2003. Even the majority of our victories we made hard work of - dominating the play only to win by a few goals. Our losses were worse, having numerous goalless quarters and setting new all time low scores for our club. There are two schools of thought as to why this is so. Some blame a poorly structured and inconsistent forward line. Others believe it to be a lack of midfield dominance and poor delivery. In truth, it is probably a combination of both. But with a team which has been pretty much the same for three years now, and which the players are supposed to be on an upward trend of improvement - this result is very disappointing. Simmonds made a serviceable effort at Centre Half Forward, when he got the ball he generally drilled the goal. What he needs to work on is making more of an impression on the game by taking his opportunities when they come - turning chances into certainties, and disadvantages into fifty fifties and he will be shocked at just how damaging he could be playing the hardest position to play. Medhurst was a huge disappointment this season. He needs to regain the hunger and the selfishness of 2004. It gets the crowd going, it gets his teammates going and it all feeds into continual success. When he was really hungry, he goes the extra step of effort to get the pill. Too many times this season I felt he was ambivalent to what was happening around him. Farmer had a solid season but probably needs to take one less angry pill. The team as a whole looks too forced when it moves forward, like it is trying to follow a game plan or structure that has been drilled. Kicking goals is more art than science and you can't teach it. Just switch off the brain and focus on getting it through the sticks as often as possible.

Big Game Bunnies...

It appears that our team was unable to evolve after getting smashed by Essendon in our first ever final. Under intense defensive pressure, we as a team go missing on the scoreboard and are unable to match that pressure to the other team. Games against St. Kilda, Essendon, Collingwood and West Coast where the game was pumped up as a "big game" we were rolled. What was most disappointing was that in these games we never even looked like winning from start to finish. We would go quarters without scoring a goal, and when these were home games it is very difficult for a crowd to get into the game when your team only scores a handful of goals for the entire game. For these games, I think we need to bring a level of ferocity to these games so that the opposition knows that whatever they throw at us, we can match. These games are all about being prepared to go one step further than your opponent. The question, "Who wants to win more?" becomes the pertinent question. Next year we need to answer, "We do" far more often.

Floundering at the Fort...

For WA teams to enjoy success, the bulk of wins need to come from home and this year that did not happen. In stark contrast to last year, when teams would dread their 1 game a year here and look forward to when it is over, teams started treating it as a fun little holiday with the novelty of playing footy.

With bumper crowds and a helpful draw, the Dockers were unable to capitalise as teams took the 'nothing to lose' attitude and threw everything at us, and too often this worked. Only Brisbane came over here not fired up and it showed with a 10 goal hiding. Although we would control our fair share of these games, our inability to put it on the scoreboard meant that their will was at no stage sapped. The one game that sticks out is the Kangaroos game, who with the exception of Sav Rocca were being beaten all over the ground, sensed victory was possible when they turned into three quarter time only 2 goals down. The rest as they say is history.

Next season the boys will have to bring back the aura of the "House of Pain" and signal to the AFL that if the points are to be taken over here, you will pay for it with a painful fight on your hands. I think the message alone is often enough for a 3 goal advantage. This ties into the other two as well, scoreboard pressure and increased ferocity will be needed if the house of Pain is to be feared once again.

The Sliders...

Pavlich had an average season by his standards. I think it might be too early to put the James Hird role onto him just yet. He needs to work on exerting his will onto games, especially when things aren't going our way. Remember hird spent virtually the first half of his career down forward before he was able to be Mr. Everything, and I think a season as a stay at home forward would be a good thing for him. Two seasons as a defender, two as a midfielder, and one as a forward would be very good for his learning.

Medhurst has been talked about. Bell was carrying an injury for much of the season and this took the edge of an All Australian talent. Dion Woods has not taken the next step, which is disappointing given that this guy could honestly be anything. Perhaps a run in the midfield would be good for him. Des Headland while having an improved second half of the season, still has shocking disposal for someone who is supposed to be a running receiver, which essentially means his crucial job is to deliver it to a forward's advantage. If it is his ankle, then get the goddam thing right! His final game agsint the Saints I feel that his disposal improved and that this gives me hope for 2005.

The Verdict

I don't think we need to tell Connolly and the Team that this season was a disappointment. They know that the list is extremely talented and that as a result this team underachieved. One would hope that this will stir the boys up to be ferocious next year and to match their talent with the will required. What worries me is that the disappointment of being belted in the big final was supposed to fire them up to improve in that department but as we saw in 2004, this did not happen.

But for all those prospective members and undecided renewing members - This team is on the right side of the age mountain. Will be more seasoned as a group next year and improvement need only be slight for a return to the finals. I'm tipping that 2005 is the beginning of Connolly's "window of opportunity".

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