Richmond assistant coach Justin Leppitsch provides ‘Roar Vision’ with a snapshot of Fremantle’s main on-field attributes ahead of this Sunday’s clash at Domain Stadium.
Brad Hill’s damaging run
“He hurt us a lot last time, along with Walters. Thankfully, for us, Walters isn’t out there this week . . . With his (Hill’s) cross-over running patterns, he has the ability to get from one side of the ground to the other and provide their forwards with opportunity. He’s one of the best runners in the game . . . Physicality stops run, but the thing about wingers is that most of the time they’re already in space, so it’s harder to do it. It’s a real big challenge for us to make sure we don’t allow plays where he can overlap and run and get easy ball.”
Dockers’ midfield strength
“They’ve got a really big, strong-bodied midfield, as do we as well. It’s going to be a really big challenge for our midfield group.”
Fyfe’s influence
“It’s always hard when you come off a long-term injury the next year. While you’re always good, you’re never at your 100 percent sharpest. But don’t worry, we’ll have our eye on him.”
Importance of winning contested ball at Domain Stadium
“It was probably good playing in Geelong last week on another narrow ground. We’ve got a very similar thing coming up with the venue we’re playing at this week.”
Mundy’s valuable contributions
“It’ll be interesting to see if he plays a bit more midfield this week with Lachie Neale out of the side . . . He has hurt us – that last kick of the game last time, obviously . . . He’s a big body, a good contested mark and a top kick for goal.”
Bennell’s return
“It’s hard to put too much time into a guy that hasn’t played for so long, but he still sits there in the background as a danger for us.”
Lessons for us from last time we met
“They were able to get numbers back (in our forward-50) and clog us up. So we’ve just got to be mindful of that . . . make sure that we’ve got good numbers in there and that we can put pressure on them.”