Fremantle star Josh Treacy has issued an ominous warning to opposition defenders that the star-studded Dockers forward line will never focus on one player and they will constantly change the focal point in a bid to kick as big a score as possible.
Treacy, Jye Amiss and Pat Voss were superb during Saturday night’s 25-point win over Brisbane at the Gabba. The star forwards combined for 11 goals while the entire Lions team only managed 10 for the night.
Fremantle’s powerful trio have now kicked 78 goals this season. At the same point of last season, they had managed 50 goals and they finished the year with 113 majors.
Treacy said the Dockers have a big advantage over opposition defences because nobody knows who is going to become the main target inside 50 during each game.
“I hope it’s a challenge, and we hope it continues to be a challenge,” Treacy told The West Australian.
“We’ll continue to evolve the way that we play, and the way that we get after opposition backlines. If we continue to dish up what we are doing at the moment, it’s going to be a challenge for teams.
“That’s a big part of our game at the moment. We’re not one dimensional, and I feel like we can adapt on the run and challenge teams in different ways.”
Fremantle’s victory came despite star midfielders Caleb Serong and Hayden Young both being unavailable due to injury.
But they have constantly had different players stepping up all over the field. No player had 25 possessions against the Lions as they shared the workload.
Treacy said the depth across every line was telling.
“We’re not relying on four or five individuals to have really big games for us to win games of footy. We couldn’t have more of an even spread at the moment, which is allowing guys to play with freedom and really come out and do what they need to win,” he said.
Fremantle have now won 11 games in a row, and the victory over Brisbane was huge given they hadn’t beaten the Lions at the Gabba since 2016.
Surprisingly, Treacy had never played at the Gabba before Saturday night. He said returning home with a victory was another sign of how good the Dockers have become this season.
“We had a really good week. We came with a plan, we executed the plan, and that allowed us to go out and play with freedom and have fun in a game like that.
“Something we’re building internally at the moment is always believing. This was great because we had a few guys that had never actually been here before, myself included.
“I think we are quite quick in this industry to just bowl teams over based on their recent form. But we couldn’t afford to come here and underestimate the team and club that the Brisbane Lions are. So, for us to come here and really put together a mature performance and take the four points was great.”
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