- Footage shows Dockers had photos of umpires up on walls
- AFL great Nick Riewoldt called the move ‘interesting’ tactic
The Fremantle Dockers have caused a stir after footage from the team’s dressing room on Saturday showed photos of the four on-field umpires officiating their match posted up on the wall.
Footage of the ‘mugshots’ captured by Fox Footy at Optus Stadium during Fremantle’s win over North Melbourne has raised eyebrows.
AFL legend Nick Riewoldt called it an ‘interesting’ tactic.
‘I saw this from the weekend, found it interesting,’ Riewoldt said on Channel 7’s Agenda Setters.
‘They’re clearly trying to arm the players with the umpires’ names.
‘They look like mug shots, those pics.
Footage captured by Fox Footy at Optus Stadium showed photos of the four on-field umpires up on the wall during Fremantle’s win over North Melbourne
Nick Riewoldt believes that coaches are trying to ‘arm the players with the umpires’ names’
‘But I reckon the players have got enough to worry about, don’t they? Without trying to memorise umpires’ names.’
AFL commentator Craig Hutchison was impressed with the move.
‘I think it’s smart,’ he responded.
‘Trying to get an edge.’
The Dockers looked like they had Saturday night’s game in the bag after opening up a 28-point lead late in the third quarter.
But Jack Darling’s goal on the three-quarter time siren sparked a run of five straight goals for the Kangaroos, before a Paul Curtis behind with only seven minutes remaining levelled the scores.
Jackson popped up for what proved to be the match-winning goal when he latched on to a desperate handball from Jye Amiss and snapped truly in traffic with three minutes to go en route to the 10.13 (73) to 10.7 (67) victory.
‘I thought Jye’s ground ball to get it out to Jacko was just as impressive as Jacko’s effort to finish it,’ Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir said.
The Dockers overcame a major late scare to secure a thrilling six-point win over North Melbourne at Optus Stadium
It was Fremantle’s fourth win on the trot, and improved their record to 8-5
Then with North Melbourne pushing to level the scores in the final minute, Treacy took a huge mark in defence when there were three Kangaroos players around him.
‘It was unbelievable,’ Longmuir said.
‘The last line of defence to be able to have the sticky fingers like that to mark it was handy
‘I would have rather him not kick it out of bounds on the full (after that), but you take the good with a bad maybe.’
Although Treacy didn’t kick a goal, he ended the match with six contested marks to his name.
It was Fremantle’s fourth victory on the trot, and improved their record to 8-5 ahead of home games against Essendon and St Kilda.
