Fremantle’s senior coach Ross Lyon expects nothing less than a fierce competition this Saturday night on the Cats home park.
Despite the Dockers having the upper hand, following last year’s qualifying final victory at the Cats fortress and their 32-point win in Round 9, Lyon has his concerns about the upcoming meeting with Geelong.
According to Lyon, the Cats have again proven they’re a solid outfit that’s fit for the final race.
“They’re the benchmark club of the competition I would think,” Lyon told Perth radio station 6PR.
“Everyone’s been writing them off, but they sit second on the ladder.
“It’s a big task going down there.
“It will test every ounce of our being and our football character. I think it will be a fierce contest.
“There’s an expectation at this time of year that we stand up. My players at our club are under no illusions as to the expectations.”
Leading into Saturday’s contest between the Cats and the Dockers, the leagues most ominous ruckman Aaron Sandilands marks Geelong home battles as one of the toughest tests in the competition.
“It’s one of the bigger challenges going round, going down to Geelong on their home deck, so we’ve got to be at our best to compete against them,” Sandilands told www.fremantlefc.com.au
“In the past couple of weeks we haven’t been anywhere near our best and the best way to turn it around is on the training track.”
Even with Hawthorn and Port Adelaide assigned into their home run, Sandilands says the Dockers cannot afford to look ahead and reposition their focus from Saturday’s clash.
“It is a massive challenge, but we can’t look much further than Geelong because they’re such a quality side,” Sandilands said.
“We’ll go from there.”
And now that Steve Johnson is back at the helm after a successful visit to the AFL tribunal, the fans and spectators could be up for an even more exciting and dangerous collision on Saturday night.
However, Sandilands admits that Johnson won’t be the only Cat causing headaches for the Dockers.
“He’s a quality player but they’ve got a heap of quality in their side,” he said.
“It’s why they’ve been so good over a long period of time.
