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Fremantle v Carlton Preview

Posted on | Posted by Digby Beacham

Fremantle v Carlton

Sunday, 2.15pm Domain Stadium

Nobody in their right mind would have envisaged Fremantle, last season’s minor premiers, starting the season 0-4. It is unfathomable. Ridiculous. Staggering. But what has been impressive during the lean patch, especially in the past fortnight, has been the message. The theme emanating from inside the four walls at the Dockers has been calmness, anything but a sense of panic. It is rare for such highly regarded sides to be as poised as Fremantle have been during a barren run.

Carlton coach Brendon Bolton also oversees a winless outfit and like Lyon, has been very reassuring when he has spoken to the media during the week and in his post-match press conferences. He would have expected a rocky start to his coaching career given the age profile and talent at his disposal and known a long way out that this assignment in particular was always going to be brutally difficult. Despite their own confidence issues, Fremantle haven’t been embarrassed against either West Coast or North Melbourne and look perfectly placed to open their account.

The Dockers have coughed up a fistful of goals in 2016, something we rarely see from Lyon-coached sides, but Carlton don’t strike fear into opposition defences. At the other end of the ground, Matthew Pavlich, Michael Walters, Hayden Ballantyne and Matt Taberner get a golden opportunity to fill up their boots, even taking into account the impressive form of Blues youngsters Jacob Weitering and Lachie Plowman.

VERDICT: Fremantle by 46 points

1st Goal Scorer: Michael Walters

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