Another week, another vast differential in midfield class and experience. It has become a repetitive theme throughout this injury tormented season, but never more blatant than in the last fortnight with Sydney and now Fremantle travelling to the sunshine state.
Injuries aren’t an excuse, they are a reality. And a reality that Rodney Eade or anyone inside the four walls at the Gold Coast SUNS could not have seen. But given the contrasting state of affairs between the two midfields this weekend, the Dockers will be almost unstoppable.
Even at full strength and with a full complement available in the engine room, an encounter with a Fremantle side boasting Brownlow medal favourite Nat Fyfe, big-bodied pair David Mundy and Michael Barlow, classy outside users Stephen Hill, Danyle Pearce and ball magnet Lachie Neale, would be a colossal assignment.
“Obviously we are limited again in our midfield with five our best six midfielders not playing. So that really puts a big strain on Michael Rischitelli and Mitch Hallahan,” Eade told SUNS TV.
“There’s not a lot of support there so we’re just going to have to be able to play a little bit like we did last week. Maybe change a few little things because Sandilands is such a dominant player.
VIDEO: Watch Rodney Eade's full press conference from Friday morning ahead of the Fremantle game.
“I think we’ve done really well the last two weeks considering the talent and experience differential.
“This week, just bigger bodies – you know Fyfe’s the best player in the competition; Mundy’s a big lad. So we’ve got some physical deficiencies with those sort of players.”
The key to stifling Fremantle’s potency in the middle of the ground rests with Tom Nicholls. Gold Coast’s ruckman has been arguably the SUNS' most influential player in the last month, and he will be forced to earn his pay this week with a match up against four-time All Australian Aaron Sandilands.
“Sandilands is such a big man as well. But probably the pleasing thing in the ruck is Tom Nicholls has been a real plus for us in the last three or four weeks,” Eade said.
“Hopefully he can keep growing in that role. We’ll have to have some different strategies and some different tactics the way we go about it.”
