Fremantle goes into tomorrow night's clash with St Kilda at Telstra Dome unchanged from the team that accounted for North Melbourne last weekend by 53 points.
St Kilda on the other hand have made four changes to their line up following last weekend's loss to Sydney. Experienced midfielder Nick Dal Santo, 2008 club leading goal kicker Stephen Milne, ruckman Michael Gardiner and Adam Schneider will all be absent tomorrow night.
Senior Coach Mark Harvey has set the scene for a torrid physical workout of St Kilda debutant Ben McEvoy who will fill the void left in the ruck by the injured Gardiner.
With new-found confidence after defeating North Melbourne last week, Fremantle believes the ruck might be its best chance to exploit an under-pressure St Kilda.
Saints coach Ross Lyon has already indicated that McEvoy, 18, will play his first AFL match against Fremantle on Friday night.
With Gardiner and Justin Koschitzke out of the Saints line up, McEvoy is likely to help teammate Steven King counter Fremantle tall timber Aaron Sandilands and Robert Warnock.
And Harvey suggested his team, which is known to possess several players that thrive when the contest gets willing, might test the youngster’s physical resilience.
“He’ll know he plays his first game,” Harvey replied when asked if McEvoy could be in for a tough opening night.
Harvey said his big men should give his side the edge on Friday night.
“We’ve got Warnock and Sandilands, and they’re starting to really evolve … we can get an advantage from stoppages and exploit St Kilda in that manner.”
Tomorrow night’s clash will be broadcast from 8:30pm WST on Channel Seven.
Round 13 – Friday 20 June
Fremantle vs. St Kilda
Telstra Dome - Bouncedown at 7:40pm (EST)
Fremantle Team – Round 13 v St Kilda
B: Dunn, Grover, Mi Johnson
HB: Mundy, McPharlin, Hayden
C: Ibbotson, Bell, Peake
HF: Palmer, Tarrant, Murphy
F: Ma Johnson, Pavlich, Mayne
FOLL: Sandilands, Crowley, Carr
I/C: Farmer, Solomon, Warnock, Schammer
Emerg: Steven Dodd, Clayton Hinkley, Brock O’Brien
No change
