New Travel Plans for Fremantle

It is well documented that the Fremantle Dockers have has a horrendus winning record away from home. In my 2008 AFL Season Preview of the Dockers I eluded to it as an “Illness”. The facts are that the Dockers only won 2 out of 10 interstate games in 2007 and if they are to feature in the finals in 2008 then this is an area that MUST improve. They are a frustrating side the Dockers, brilliant one week terrible the next.

New Docker Coach Mark Harvey has made it a priority to change the traveling habits of his team. The Dockers used to travel 2 days before the game but they are planning to use the NAB Cup and or the Practise Match Challenge Series to trial traveling 1 day before to see how th players respond to that.

It sounds like Harvey starting to try and change the traveling culture that has dogged the Dockers since they started in the AFL. They have always paid a lot of attention to the fact that they are terrible travelers and I get the feeling it consumes their mind to much when they are on the road. Once they start winning then maybe they can get this out of their minds and concentrate on playing.

Freo meets Carlton in Pretoria this Saturday in an exhibition match before taking on West Coast in its NAB Cup opener – something the coach said all his players were itching to get at.

Will be interesting to see if the new travel plans make any difference.

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Fremantle Dockers 2008 - Promise Lots Deliver Little

Many would say that Fremantle are a frustrating side that always promises a lot during the pre season but do not deliver the goods. Will Season 2008 be any different from the boys from the West? Being an Essendon supporter I could be a bit biased considering the strong Essendon contingent at the Dockers at the moment.

Let’s take a look at the Additions and Deletions from the Dockers list for Season 2008:

ADDITIONS:

Rookie elevation: Andrew Foster
NAB AFL Draft: Kepler Bradley (Essendon), Clayton Hinkley (North Ballarat Rebels), Mark Johnson (Essendon), Chris Mayne (Perth), Rhys Palmer (East Fremantle)

DELETIONS:

Retired: Troy Cook, Justin Longmuir, Shane Parker (veteran – outside list)
Delisted: Clayton Collard, Ryley Dunn, Robert Haddrill, Calib Mourish, James Walker, Benet Copping (rookie), Darren Rumble (rookie)

Free Flowing Style of Play

Fremantle are another side that seems to play a free flowing style of game which, when they are on song is great to watch. The have proven to be capable of kicking some big scores and their forward line seems to have what it takes to mix it with the best in the competition. The Dockers were the 3rd highest points scored per game in 2007 proving their forward line can kick some goals. With the superstar that is Matthew Pavlich then he is certainly a man to build a forward line around. He will certainly be the go to man again in season 2008. Read more

AFL Players need to evolve as people

This is quite a common theme coming form the AFL Clubs and Coaches at the moment. AFL Footballers are so caught up in the intense nature of AFL Football that they forget about life outside football. Mark Harvey is just one of many coaches that is going to give his Fremantle Dockers players some experiences that will be “fairly traumatic”. AFL Clubs are all about giving their players life experiences these days but does this really have an impact on the players?

Recently John Worsfold and the West Coast Eagles made a trip to South Africa to promote the game of AFL Football and also to give the players
an “understanding about what opportunities they have delivered to themselves, regardless of being footballers, by living in Australia,”. I guess the Eagles are trying to change the culture and behavioral issues they seem to have. Worsfold was quoted as saying:

“I think it was eye-opening for them, and some of them were probably shocked by what they saw and smelled and heard, but they all coped with it extremely well.”

I just wonder if when the players get back from these sort of “life changing” trips and camps they actually do appreciate where they are and the privlidge they have. I mean a couple of weeks after being back and doing another 10-15 gruelling pre season sessions do they even remember the reason of the trip they were on or are they back to their old self and tangled up in the hype of being an AFL Footballer?

It will be interesting to observe the impact these types of trips have on, not only the Eagles, but also the Dockers because they themselves have some off field cultural issue they have to deal with.