Dockers coach Ross Lyon will dig up some old notes from his days at St Kilda in a bid to boost Fremantle’s chances of reaching their maiden AFL grand final.
Fremantle are in the box seat to reach this year’s decider after securing a home preliminary final following last week’s shock win over Geelong.
Lyon has already been part of five preliminary finals during his coaching career, with two coming as an assistant to Paul Roos at Sydney, and another three when he was head coach at St Kilda.
The Saints earned a week off in both 2009 and 2010, and Lyon said he learned plenty from those experiences.
In the 2009 preliminary final, St Kilda were caught on the hop and trailed the Bulldogs by 15 points at quarter-time before snatching a seven-point win.
A year later when the two teams faced off again, the Saints were better prepared as they secured a 24-point win.
Lyon will use the lessons learned from the build-up to those games to help formulate a plan for Fremantle’s own week off.
“I’ve got all those training sessions written down, everything we did,” Lyon told Perth radio station 6PR.
“We thought in ’09 we probably came in a little bit unders and got jumped.
“So in 2010 we did more work.”
Fremantle will face either Sydney or Carlton in next week’s home preliminary final, with the Dockers now second favourites to win the flag, behind Hawthorn.
Lyon praised his players for their performance against Geelong.
“It was a weight of numbers performance,” Lyon said of the 15-point win on enemy territory.
“I can’t think of anyone that didn’t contribute at some point and put their head over the ball or lay a tackle or chase or take their opportunity with the ball.”
Dockers defender Zac Dawson is free to play next week after being cleared by the match review panel of three separate incidents against the Cats.
Forward Chris Mayne is also available after being offered a reprimand for his strike on Steve Johnson.