St Kilda coach Ross Lyon (left) and Fremantle counterpart Justin Longmuir. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES.
Fremantle and St Kilda have done a lot right so far in season 2024.
The Dockers are currently in the top eight with three wins and a healthy percentage of 122.3, while the Saints have two wins with 102.5.
When a team boasts a triple-figure percentage, it tends to indicate that it is in the finals mix at the very least.
And things could be even rosier for Freo and St Kilda at the moment, if not for some agonising defeats that they’ve already suffered five rounds into the season.
The Dockers are smarting from an Adelaide fortnight from hell which featured a 10-point loss to Carlton, thanks largely to some controversial late umpiring, and a three-point defeat at the hands of the Power.
And how about the Saints? All three of their losses so far have been by eight points or less, including a final-quarter capitulation against Essendon and a one-point heartbreaker against GWS in Canberra.
The thing that both teams have nailed to this point of the season is their defensive structures all over the ground.
The Dockers have conceded the fewest points in the league (319) and St Kilda is third in that category with 366.
Captain Alex Pearce and Luke Ryan have been stellar down back in particular for Fremantle, and their ability to limit opposition scoring so effectively is all the more impressive when one considers that Brennan Cox and Oscar McDonald, who was earmarked for a meaningful role in defence this year, have been absent since suffering serious injuries in their season opener.
But where both Justin Longmuir and Ross Lyon’s teams have fallen down is their potency in attack.
The Dockers and Saints are both in the bottom six for points scored, averaging 78 and 75 points per game respectively.
When you compare that to the competition pacesetters GWS (108) and Geelong (102), who also boast top-six defences, it starts to become clear why Freo and St Kilda aren’t higher up the ladder than they currently are.
Lyon and Longmuir have built their coaching reputations on a defence-first approach, and it has yielded both men varying degrees of success.
Lyon has featured in four grand finals (including a replay), without tasting the ultimate success, while Longmuir took his Dockers to the semi-finals a couple of years ago.
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However, as important as the defensive aspect of the game remains, a balance needs to be struck in today’s footy to be a genuine premiership threat.
The game has gone past the ‘defence, defence, defence’ mantra of years gone by. The last four premiers – Collingwood, Geelong, Melbourne and Richmond – all had top-five attacks and were some of the most entertaining and eye-catching teams to watch of the past decade.
It remains to be seen whether Lyon and Longmuir value the attacking aspects of the sport as much as they should.
For instance, in St Kilda’s case, it should really be getting more out of Max King (six goals) and Tim Membrey (eight) to this point of the season, while Fremantle veteran Michael Walters (five) has also struggled to have a consistent impact.
Outside of Jye Amiss (10) and Josh Treacy (nine), the Dockers’ forward line looks rather pedestrian and Jack Higgins (11) is carrying a big load for the Saints.
Makeshift/cobbled-together forward lines are unlikely to help propel a team all the way to premiership success in the modern game.
Just take a look at the forward options that some of the best teams in the league have to choose from.
The Giants are blessed with Toby Greene, Jesse Hogan, Brent Daniels, Jake Riccardi, Callum Brown and Aaron Cadman; the Cats can rely on Jeremy Cameron, Tom Hawkins, Ollie Henry, Tyson Stengle, Gryan Miers, Brad Close and Gary Rohan (when he returns); and when the Lions stream towards their forward 50, they have the likes of Joe Daniher, Charlie Cameron, Eric Hipwood and Lincoln McCarthy staring at them.
That is raw, unadulterated attacking firepower.
Obviously, boasting such potent forward lines doesn’t guarantee premiership success, but it certainly grants the aforementioned teams a seat at the table.
And while a side like the 2023 Magpies didn’t have the most menacing forward line in VFL/AFL history, they made up for that with goalkicking midfielders such as Nick Daicos, Jordan De Goey, Josh Daicos and Taylor Adams whose contributions were instrumental in clinching the flag last year. (Cruelly for Adams, he couldn’t reap the rewards of his toil due to injury).
Unless the Dockers and Saints can generate some much-needed scoring potency in their forward line and/or midfield, they look like they’ll just be making up the numbers again this season.
