AFL 2019 – Fremantle
“Heave Ho” or “Way to Go” for Ross’s Dockers
AFL tips and betting at iTipsports features all 18 teams in our FREE AFL Season Bonus Preview that will outline their fortunes for 2019 from our expert AFL tips analysis and introduces our method of AFL betting analysis the HBM Human Behaviour Model.
Our ninth team we analyse for the AFL tips and betting in the AFL 2019 season is the Fremantle Dockers.
Season 2019 looks a carbon copy of 2018 for the Cats they in that they will be thereabouts to give their fans some thrills along the way but will be borderline to make the AFL finals.
The Dockers are one of the big unknowns in the AFL 2019 tips and betting season. They have definitely improved their list and can perhaps alter their game plan given the new personnel and can become irritating to the better sides in the AFL. On the flip side we are not sure whether Ross Lyon has lost his playing group or whether their youth can take the next step to push them up the AFL ladder.
Ross Lyon a Hard Taskmaster
Ross Lyon is a hard taskmaster and makes no apologies for that but his demanding style can have its downsides. If the players begin to lose belief in the playbook and are not getting due reward for effort then they don’t put in like they need to for this demanding style to be effective.
There is a group of senior players in this boat at Freo (Lachie Neal was one for sure) and the fact remains that his style has fallen short in 3 grand finals.
To counter this somewhat Ross Lyon after securing a 5 year contract very quickly went into “rebuild” mode after a disappointing first half of 2016. It was at this point he pretty much said “the next (first) premiership starts now” and he blooded youth. The youth will not question what he tells them for a while, they will just do what he says as they are trying to establish themselves as certain starters at the top level.
There is a real interesting dynamic at play currently at the dockers and how Lyon handles it all will determine the results.
New Recruits add Potency up Forward
Lyon has an added advantage this year by adding potency up forward in the off season recruiting Key forward Jesse Hogan (Melb) and forward/ruck Rory Lobb (GWS) giving them much needed relief after a Pavlich free season. This can re-invigorate the group and give them some real belief.
The loss of Lachie Neale is significant he is a hard working high possession player but to offset this somewhat the Dockers have recruited Reece Conca. A different sort of player but can add depth both defensively and through the mid.
Fremantle had 10 games last year where they were beaten by 50 plus points and this is a very bad sign and certainly not indicative of a “normal” Ross Lyon side. Sure the youth strategy was partly to blame but workrate was an issue as well. You don’t get beaten by nearly 10 goals in that many games if everyone is pulling their weight.
Youth appears to be Developing
As far as youth goes Bailey Banfield was great, Andrew Brayshaw fantastic, Ed Langdon took another step as did Darcy Tucker and Adam Cerra and added to this young Luke Ryan showed some great intercept ability across half back all of these players need to have career best years to push into the finals.
A fit group of senior players is vitally important as well. Missing Nat Fyfe, Aaron Sandilands, Brad and Stephen Hill for about half the year in 2018 wasn’t ideal so you can see there is significant upside for the Dockers.
All that said the jury is still well and truly out and we can see the Dockers finishing as high as sixth and as low as fourteenth. It will be a bumpy ride and the joy of that of course is the Ross Lyon Pressers post game, the best (prickly) in the AFL since
AFL SEASON PREDICTION 9th with 10-13 wins
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