FREMANTLE star Hayden Young knows he won't bring the electric traits of a Kysaiah Pickett or Cody Weightman to the Dockers' forward line, but his focus on being a dangerous front-half player in his own way is paying off.
The Dockers have added a forward rotation to their midfielders' job description in the second half of the season, with Young, Caleb Serong, Andrew Brayshaw and Nat Fyfe all spending around five minutes a quarter in attack.
It is Young's impact during those brief stints that has most stood out, however, as the former defender uses his elite kicking and ability to win contests to set up teammates and hit the scoreboard himself.
The 23-year-old had a career-high four goal assists against Hawthorn last Sunday, giving him a team-high 16 for the season, while also kicking five goals from his past four games and 10.4 for the year.
"I've just tried to embrace it. And I think off the back of that, I've been able to go down there and have an impact in the short time that I spend forward," Young told AFL.com.au this week.
"I take a lot of pride in my ball use, and I feel like when I'm down there I'm trying to help set up a goal if not kick a goal. That's the strength of my game and I feel like I've been able to have an impact in that area.
"I'm not like 'Kozzy' Pickett or Cody Weightman, but I certainly feel like when I've got time and space I can have an impact. If it isn't on the scoreboard, it's hopefully setting my teammates up. I like to think that I'm a threat and that is a good mindset to have when I go down there."
Young said the Dockers' forward line had embraced him and the team's rotating midfielders in recent weeks, with the structure allowing Fremantle to play an extra onballer and maintain fresh legs through the middle of the ground.
Being able to share in the enjoyment of kicking goals has been part of the pay-off for Young, who entered the season with two goals from 57 games after starting his career as a half-back.
"It's one of the best feelings in footy kicking a snag and being able to celebrate, and I've been very fortunate that I've been able to get on the end of a few in the last couple of weeks," he said.
"Early on in my career I did have a few more opportunities, but I didn't make the most of them and I felt like I butchered a couple of opportunities purely because I probably wasn't prepared as a half-back to have a shot at goal.
"But now as a midfielder who drifts forward, I know that there's going to be opportunities in game where I'm going to be confronted with the goals, and I want to be really comfortable in those positions to be able to back myself in.
"I've practised being in those scenarios at training and with my mental imagery of having a shot on goal and feeling really comfortable to back my ability."
Fremantle will confront a Melbourne midfield on Sunday that rebounded around the stoppages against Essendon in round 18, despite having a makeshift ruck department, and Young said the Dockers would prepare for their best.
The 23-year-old was also expecting a different looking midfield after tweaks from the Demons in the seven weeks since Fremantle beat them by 92 points in Alice Springs, winning the clearances 48-23 in that clash.
"We're really looking forward to the challenge and it looks like they've adjusted their game plan a little bit to sort of the Demons of old and trusting the contest a bit more and getting numbers over to support," Young said.
"So we know that the game might look a little bit different to what it looked like at the start of the year, and our preparation is going to have to be really good to get ready for that and meet the challenge head on."
