Justin Chadwick
Theyโre one of the hottest teams in the AFL right now, and Fremantle are banking on their โunicornโ to light up Friday night footy when they take on the Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium.
The Dockers (6-1) have won six games in a row to put themselves firmly in the hunt for the minor premiership, and will start as hot favourites against an injury-hit Bulldogs outfit on a three-match losing slide.
A big part of Fremantleโs success this season has been the hot form of ruckman Luke Jackson, who has been labelled a unicorn for his ability to wreak havoc in the air and at ground level.
Jackson is averaging career highs this season in disposals (19.3), clearances (5.3), hitouts (26.7) and hitouts to advantage (9.1), as well as kicking six goals.
The Bulldogs (4-3) have struggled badly in the ruck since Tim English was cut down by a knee injury four weeks ago.
And even if English is given the green light to return against Fremantle, the Bulldogs face a major challenge in halting Jacksonโs influence.
โWhen heโs playing like that and enforcing himself and imposing himself on the contest, itโs unreal for us,โ Dockers forward Michael Frederick said of Jackson.
โWe get a big energy boost from that. Heโs quick, heโs skilful. As people like to say, heโs a unicorn.
โAnd I think itโs pretty special that we got someone like that that can roll in the ruck, roll forward as well as playing as a midfielder.โ
With Sean Darcy set to miss another three to five weeks with a calf injury, Fremantle will stick with their Jackson-Mason Cox ruck combination for the foreseeable future.
The Bulldogs are hopeful Aaron Naughton (neck) will face the Dockers after recovering well from his scary fall last week.
In previous seasons, Fremantle have been vocal in their flag ambitions and wanting to secure a top-four berth.
This season theyโve taken a different approach, merely saying they are now โ1-0โ after every win they post.
โI think when you look too far ahead, sometimes it can distract you a little bit from what you need to do now,โ Frederick said.
โFor us to sort of have that 1-0 mantra each week after a win has been good to re-set us.โ
Frederick kicked two goals in last weekโs 14-point win over Carlton.
It was just his second match of the season after suffering an unlucky ankle injury on the eve of round one, when Shai Bolton tackled him at training.
Bolton made up for it by setting up Frederickโs two goals against Carlton.
โThe ankle twisted the wrong way, and I heard a pop kind of thing,โ Frederick said.
โI knew I wasnโt too good. Bolton was the first one to check in on me. I was lucky I had a good pre-season before that.
โAnd before the game (against Carlton) he told me he would look after me.โ
AAP
