Freo’s Cavalry Is Coming — And Geelong Should Worry

Right, I’ll be honest with you — it’s not easy for a West Coast bloke to sit here and write something positive about the purple mob from across the Swan River. But when footy’s footy, you call it straight, and the Fremantle Dockers are shaping up as a genuine September contender right now.

Their coach has been on the record this week flagging the potential return of three players from injury ahead of their clash with Geelong, and if those names slot back into the side the way everyone’s expecting, the Cats are going to have a serious headache on their hands. Over here in the west, we know better than most just how hard it is to get up and produce after a bye week — long travel schedules, disrupted rhythms, the whole lot. Freo, to their credit, seem to have a proper plan for avoiding the post-bye slump that has buried them in the past.

The Bye Week Trap Is Real — Freo Know It

Let me just say this clearly: the bye week can be a club’s best friend or its worst enemy, and in recent years we’ve seen both WA clubs fall into that trap of coming back flat. It’s one of those little quirks of the AFL season that doesn’t get nearly enough attention from the Sydney and Melbourne press, funnily enough. Imagine that.

The Dockers coaching staff have clearly identified the post-bye slump as a genuine threat and they’ve been public about having structures in place to counter it. That kind of self-awareness from a football club is actually refreshing. Rather than just hoping the week off does the job, they’re actively managing the load, the mindset and the momentum. Whether it translates to the scoreboard is another thing entirely, but the intent is right.

Three Names Back Could Change Everything

Now here’s where it gets interesting. The Dockers coach flagged not one, not two, but three players who are tracking towards a return for the Geelong game. Three. When you’re a side that’s been grinding out results with a patched-up list, that’s a significant injection of class and depth.

\p>Think about what that does for your structure. Suddenly the blokes who’ve been covering for injured teammates can slot back into their natural roles. The forward line gets its options back. The midfield brigade stops having to carry more than its share. It’s not just about the talent of the returning players — it’s about the whole system breathing a little easier because everyone’s back in the spot they actually belong.

Freo have been doing it tough with the injury ledger for chunks of this season, same as most clubs, so to potentially get that kind of reinforcement all at once is a real boost. The timing is pretty handy too, with Geelong looming as exactly the kind of opponent that’ll expose any weaknesses you’ve still got.

Why the Geelong Test Is the Perfect Measuring Stick

I always reckon you learn more about a footy club when they play the Cats than against almost anyone else. Chris Scott’s Geelong are relentless in the contest, they’re disciplined, and they punish teams who are sloppy or unsettled. If Freo come out of the bye week a bit rusty, a bit disconnected, Geelong will make them pay before the end of the first quarter and it’ll be a long afternoon at Optus Stadium — which, by the way, is a ground that deserves way more Finals action than the AFL schedule ever seems to want to give it. But that’s a rant for another day.

The point is, a win over Geelong with a returning list and post-bye pressure on your shoulders would be a real statement. It’d say to the competition: we’re not just making up the numbers in the top eight, we’re here and we mean business. That’s the kind of scalp that builds belief inside a footy club’s four walls.

The Dockers’ Quiet Consistency Deserves More Credit

Here’s something I reckon gets lost in the east-coast footy chatter — Fremantle have been building something genuinely sustainable over the last couple of seasons and it doesn’t always get the recognition it earns. Justin Longmuir has this group playing a brand of footy that’s structured and hard to score against, but also capable of lighting it up when the ball moves quickly through the corridor.

Their young players have matured nicely, their experienced heads are still contributing, and their defensive system is among the more reliable in the competition. Over here in the west, we watch both Freo and West Coast every single week — yes, even us Eagles fans have to respect what’s happening at the Docks right now, even if it pains me just a little bit to type that.

The question was always going to be whether they could sustain it through the grind of a full season without the injury toll catching up with them. Getting three players back simultaneously is the kind of thing that answers that question in the best possible way.

What the Returns Mean Tactically

Let’s get into the footy for a second. When a side gets multiple key contributors back at once, the tactical benfits compound quickly. It’s not a simple addition — it’s multiplication. Your rotations open up. Your coach has more levers to pull during the game. Opposition sides can’t just set and forget their defensive assignments because suddenly there are threats coming from angles that weren’t available in recent weeks.

For Geelong, who are meticulous in their preparation, having to game-plan against a suddenly replenished Dockers line-up with limited time after the bye adds another layer of complexity. That’s a small but real advantage Freo will carry into the opening bounce.

A Word of Caution — Let’s Not Get Ahead of Ourselves

Before anyone in the purple army starts booking their grand final tickets, a gentle reality check. The bye bounce-back has bitten plenty of teams who thought they had everything sorted, and Geelong have the experience and the nous to capitalise on any complacency. The Cats didn’t build their dynasty by rolling over for sides that looked good on paper going into a game.

And look, returning from injury is never as clean as we all hope. Players need to find their legs, their timing, their connection with teammates. If even one of those three returnees comes back at 80 per cent and tries to do too much too soon, it can actually unsettle the rhythm the team has built in their absence. So the coaching staff need to manage those returning players as carefully as they managed the bye week itself.

The Bigger Picture for Freo’s Season

Here’s the thing about September — every game from here to the finals feels like it matters double. The Dockers are well and truly in the mix, and a win over a quality opponent like Geelong in Round whatever-it-is does wonders for your percentage, your confidence and your positioning on the ladder.

Over here in the west, we back our WA clubs first and foremost — Eagles ’til I die and all that — but I’m not going to pretend the Dockers aren’t a compelling watch this season. They’ve earned their spot at the top end of the competition. If the cavalry comes riding back for the Geelong game the way the coach is suggesting, they could be about to make a very loud statement to the rest of the competition.

And when that statement gets made from Optus Stadium, maybe — just maybe — the east-coast press might take five minutes to talk about something that didn’t happen in the MCG or Marvel Stadium. We can dream, anyway.