FREMANTLE 0.4.0 0.8.1 0.11.4 0.14.6 (90) RICHMOND 0.0.1 0.3.4 0.3.4 0.4.6 (30)
GOALS: Fremantle: M Pavlich 4, J Griffin 2, M Taberner 2, T Mzungu 2, H Ballantyne, J Hannath, L Weller, M Barlow. Richmond: A Marcon, C Menadue, M Chol, T Chaplin.
The pre-season of Fremantle's Hayden Ballantyne has hit a hurdle with a hamstring injury forcing him out of the NAB Challenge clash with Richmond in Mandurah on Friday night.
The pre-season of Fremantle's Hayden Ballantyne has hit a hurdle with a hamstring injury forcing him out of the NAB Challenge clash with Richmond in Mandurah on Friday night.
The Dockers' small forward lasted only until midway through the second term when he left the ground – and he clearly wasn't happy, which will spark questions of how bad the injury is.
He was going pretty well until then too, along with Michael Walters, setting a cracking pace for a first-round pre-season clash.
The mindset of Ty Vickery was a little harder to determine as he left the Perth south-suburban ground just before quarter-time of the Tigers' 60-point loss to the Dockers with concussion. It appeared an innocuous incident in a pack, but it was enough to keep the tall forward from returning to the ground.
His loss hurt the Tigers as far as the game result went. They were already missing Jack Riewoldt and were playing Troy Chaplin in attack – who with 14 goals from 207 AFL games, isn't known as a goalkicker. When Chaplin went back into defence for the third term, the Tigers didn't score at all.
During the term, the Dockers midfield took control, which is no coincidence as that's when Brownlow medallist Nat Fyfe joined the game.
The Tigers were missing Trent Cotchin, Dustin Martin, Anthony Miles, Brett Deledio and Shane Edwards from their engine room, which didn't help.
The difference in experience shone through. Fremantle were allowed to amass 192 uncontested possessions to three-quarter-time, which resulted in a 48-point lead.
The Tigers had a couple of other players who will return to Melbourne sore too. Ruckman Ben Griffiths will have a sore head after he ran into Fremantle giant Aaron Sandilands during a stoppage in the third term and was left sprawled on the ground.
As he headed to the bench (again not returning), he was followed by defender David Astbury, who was nursing a sore hand. He was able to return during the last term though.
The Tigers had nine players in their side who haven't played in an AFL game yet – the Dockers only had two, and had just nine players on the ground who didn't play against Hawthorn in the preliminary final loss last season.
The Tigers' top draft pick from last season, Daniel Rioli, picked up at No. 15, found the going a bit tough. He had only one possession to the seven-minute mark of the final term, as the Dockers' lead reached 10 goals. And he'd spent a heap of the time on the ground. Rookie Adam Marcon caught up with the pace of the game during the second term, and kicked a goal during a purple patch for Richmond when they kicked their only three goals of the first half.
