Fremantle gets around David Mundy after he kicked the sealer in the win over Collingwood last season. Photo: GETTY IMAGES

FREMANTLE
2020 record: 7 wins, 10 losses (12th)

THE INS
Heath Chapman (West Perth), Nathan O’Driscoll (Perth), Brandon Walker (East Fremantle), Joel Western (Claremont), Josh Treacy (Bendigo Pioneers)

THE OUTS
Jesse Hogan (GWS), Brandon Matera (delisted), Cam McCarthy (delisted), Jason Carter (delisted), Dillon O’Reilly (delisted), Isaiah Butters (delisted), Hugh Dixon (delisted), Tom North (delisted), Jarvis Pina (delisted)

THE STRENGTHS
After starting last season 0-4, the Dockers won more than half their games and it quickly became clear what kind of team new coach Justin Longmuir wanted to mould. Longmuir is only one season into his coaching career, but the Dockers already look like they’ve got themselves a beauty. Under his watch, Freo became one of the hardest teams to play against, with its miserly defence conceding only 54 points a game, which earned it a ranking of fifth. In fact, the Dockers were the only bottom-10 side to feature in the top seven in that category. And how much better does that already-impressive backline look with Alex Pearce and Joel Hamling back after missing all of last year due to ankle injuries? Having a dual Brownlow medallist and one of the best players in the competition at your disposal is always a nice bonus as well. With Nat Fyfe in the side, Fremantle has an incredibly strong base off which to build and anything is possible. But he’s 29, and the Dockers won’t have access to his special talents forever, so they’ll need to strike while the iron is hot if they want to claim that elusive maiden premiership. That’s why they should be extremely excited by the young crop of gun players that are quickly emerging, particularly in the midfield. In Rising Star winner Caleb Serong, Adam Cerra and Andrew Brayshaw, the future has arrived for Fremantle. This prodigious trio has already established itself as a force to be reckoned with at AFL level and the Freo faithful can look forward to the next 10 years with optimism. Their rapid development has meant that Fyfe can spend more time up forward where he can be a potent attacking threat, giving Longmuir plenty of flexibility. Hayden Young, Liam Henry, Sam Sturt and Mitch Crowden also look very promising prospects, further assisting Fremantle’s slow build towards finals contender, which seems to be largely going under the radar. Thanks largely to Matt Taberner (38) and Rory Lobb (37), who were ranked second and third in the AFL respectively, the Dockers were ranked No.1 in the competition for contested marks on differentials. Taberner had a breakout year last year and looks to have established himself as that key target in attack for which Fremantle has been crying out since Matthew Pavlich retired. The Dockers didn’t struggle finding the ball either in 2020, coming in at sixth for both disposals and marks on differentials.

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THE WEAKNESSES
But when you look at Fremantle’s final ladder position, it begs the question, how effective were the Dockers with the ball? Their attacking prowess needs a lot of improvement as they really struggled to score last year. Fremantle was second-last in the competition both for inside 50s and scores per inside 50, leaving its attack ranked 16th with a paltry 51 points per game. Granted, the Dockers’ brilliant defensive mechanisms enabled them to offset their many shortcomings up forward, but if they want to catapult themselves from mid-table side to finals contender, that’s clearly an area that simply has to be enhanced. They scored more than 60 points on just four occasions, and this year have to find a way to be able to use two of the best contested marks in the competition, Taberner and Lobb, more effectively and closer to goal. The returns of Sam Switkowski and Sam Sturt from long injury lay-offs will hopefully give them a boost in that department, too. But the forward line still looks as though there are a few holes in it, especially when Fyfe isn’t spending time down there. The continued development of the likes of Switkowski, Henry, Lachie Schultz and Sturt will be very important in 2021. Fremantle’s contested work left a lot to be desired, too, finishing ninth for tackles, 11th for contested possessions and 14th for clearances on differentials. Serong, Cerra and Brayshaw might promise a bright future for the club in the middle of the ground, but although David Mundy and Stephen Hill are still in the best 22, they are on the wrong side of 30, and you just wonder how reliable they will be when it comes to providing support to that young trio over the next 12-24 months. Fyfe can’t do it all by himself, so on-ballers such as Blake Acres, Mitch Crowden, Darcy Tucker and James Aish, who were all impressive at times last year, have to continue improving.

ONE TO WATCH
Henry might have only played three games and kicked one goal in his debut season last year, but he did enough during his little taste of senior footy to suggest that the Dockers could have another excitement machine on their hands up forward. With Michael Walters already one of the game’s premium small forwards, and Schultz finishing third in the goalkicking last year, if Henry realises his potential quickly, Fremantle will give opposition small defenders many headaches.

UNDER THE PUMP
What has happened to Connor Blakely? A regular member of the senior team for the previous four seasons, he fell out of favour with Longmuir spectacularly in 2020, needing to wait until round nine to make his first appearance of the season and then getting dropped five games later, never to be seen again. After being shopped around during the trade period, and failing to garner interest from rival clubs, season 2021 looms as a critical one for the midfielder who turns 25 in March.

BEST 22
B: Joel Hamling, Luke Ryan, Ethan Hughes
HB: Nathan Wilson, Alex Pearce, Hayden Young
C: Adam Cerra, Andrew Brayshaw, Stephen Hill
HF: Michael Walters, Rory Lobb, Sam Switkowski
F: Nat Fyfe, Matt Taberner, Lachie Schultz
R: Sean Darcy, David Mundy, Caleb Serong
Inter: James Aish, Taylin Duman, Liam Henry, Blake Acres
Emerg: Darcy Tucker, Sam Sturt, Brennan Cox, Mitch Crowden

The returns of Pearce and Hamling back in defence to link up with best-and-fairest Ryan cannot be understated. Young looked so good in his first five games, before injury struck him down, that he has been placed straight on to a half-back flank. Hill’s inclusion might raise some eyebrows, but he got some continuity in his game for the first time in a couple of years in 2020. Switkowski is back, too, after missing all of last year due to back and hamstring injuries, following an impressive 2019 campaign, and Henry’s enormous potential earns him a place on the bench, while Sturt isn’t far behind. A really good sign of the depth that Fremantle is developing is the fact that guys like Griffin Logue, Reece Conca, Travis Colyer and Michael Frederick couldn’t even be named as emergencies at this point. It would be nice to see midfielder Stefan Giro get back in the team after losing the last two years to injury, too.