Kangaroos

[Cicjose]

No time for complacency

http://www.fremantlefc.com.au/news/2013-06-18/five-talking-points-ahead-of-the-roos.workstation
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North off the bye

This is the third time in the past three seasons that the Roos play Fremantle after their bye.

On the first occasion, in round 4, 2011, Fremantle won by 29 points at Patersons Stadium.

North then turned the tables in round 22 that same year, winning by 98 points at Etihad Stadium.

On both occasions, Freo had played during the week of North

[valkorum]

Stole this from another forum

Freo vs North: A Player Ratings preview

Freo have no players in the Top 80.
North have 6 players in the Top 80.

Defence will be a sore point, with the 295th McPharlin and 351st Dawson anchoring the Freo backline. Lee Spurr has been the big mover this week, increasing his rank to 385th but remains one spot lower than Adam Selwood.

North must have of the stingiest defences in the league, with all of their back 6 having a higher ranking than Luke McPharlin.

43 - Scott Thompson
153 - Michael Firrito
156 - Shaun Atley
170 - Scott McMahon
255 - Nathan Grima
276 - Sam Wright

It's going to be a long day for Freo's midfield, with Harvey (14th), Wells (20th) and Swallow (41st) all expected to dominate before Freo's top midfielder Stephen Hill (83rd) even gets a look in. Apparently Michael Barlow has been in reasonable form, but the 201st ranked player has failed to impress the judges, trending nowhere unlike every other player who played this week.

Despite Pavlich having a terrible start to the year then getting injured, he's still Freo's top rated forward at 72. The media are hyping Walters as a gamechanging inclusion for Freo, but not if you consult the rankings. I don't think Brad Scott will have many nightmares about the 334th best player in the league. According to him, "that's only 17 spots higher than Zac Dawson".

North also appear to have weak forward line outside of their Top 100 players in Petrie and Thomas. Ross Lyon will need to concentrate his low quality backline on stopping these two players because there's nothing else that should worry him; and certainly not the 477th ranked Aaron Black.

North only have one classified ruck - yet another platinum Top 100 player in Todd Goldstein (70th). You wouldn't expect 275th ranked Zac Clarke to give him any trouble, and certainly not Jack Hannath. At 581st, there's actually been some confusion over whether Hannath just won a competition in the paper to run out there with the Freo boys this season.

So what does this tell us? Freo will get monstered in every area of the ground, especially their horrific defence. North by 83.

[anchorman]

I am amazed at how much credibility is placed in the fantasy football stats,or super coach stats.
Who cares if we don't have a player in the top 80.Stats mean nothing unless they are positive stats. Kicks to a team mate,effective possessions and disposals are what counts.
A player can get 40 kicks and do nothing with them.
I am sure that Norths coach wouldn't see the fact that they have six players in the top 80 for FF or SC,he would prefer to see his players in the most effective group.
Freo by 34 points regardless of what those stats say.
I am sure that Norths would love to have the Rock McPharlin in their side guiding their back line.
Lets see how Brad Scott feels about Son Son after he kicks four or five and runs rings around whoever he plays on.
Pavlich hasn't played since I think it is round three or four, and wont play this weekend either.So he bears no relevance.

[valkorum]

@Anchor - its a sarcastic post regarding how stupid the AFL Rankings system is.

[anchorman]

OK sorry I thought it was serious.

[valkorum]

The point being made is that Freo have the best defense in the game for points against and yet McPharlin is only ranked #295 overall.  The ranking system is a joke, it ranks players based on their score involvemen.

[Ziplock]

the ranking system is terrible lol.

[Ricochet]

lol it gave me a laugh Valk.

Really looking forward to this one. North really need a win or their season is nearly done and we need to just keep putting the wins away. Gonna be a cracking game

[roo boys!]

Haha love it valk

Yeah should be a corker, think that Subi has been a little hard to adjust to over the years for North but they have become one of the top running teams in the comp so hopefully the wider expanses don't influence the result as much as they have in the past.

Never going to be easy against Freo, a top side in the competition especially over there, all I'm hoping is that the players realise that the season is on the line this week if it hasn't been the last few weeks and they need to give it all they've got.

Swallow generally goes ok against Freo so hopefully he can return to his 41st ranking form ;)

[valkorum]

Just making it clear that I didnt write the article.  Someone else did, I am just sharing it here as well :)