Craig Donoghue: The Dockers player Fremantle must trust to kick inside 50 in Hayden Young’s absence

Fremantle players must go out of their way to get the ball into Nathan O’Driscoll’s hands in their forward half during Hayden Young’s absence and seize upon the skills he has displayed since returning to the team late last season. O’Driscoll’s powerful running combined with his raking left foot and his impressive pre-season now make him the man most likely to create scoring opportunities when the team is driving the ball inside 50. Finding someone who can hit their target inside 50 is one of the hardest parts of footy and the absence of Young for the opening games of the season is a massive body blow Young was among just eight players in the league to kick the ball inside 50 at least 100 times last season. The others were Errol Gulden, Marcus Bontempelli, Chad Warner, Jason Horne-Francis, Hugh McCluggage, Lachie Neale and Zak Butters. It’s an amazing group of stars. When Young kicked inside 50, Fremantle marked the ball 26 per cent of the time and retained possession from 54 per cent of those kicks. More importantly, Fremantle scored from 39 per cent of those inside 50s. Caleb Serong was Fremantle’s next most prolific kicker to inside 50. But not only did the Dockers’ retention drop to 49 per cent from those kicks, their scoring dropped to 33 per cent and the marks inside 50 slid to 20 per cent. Jeremy Sharp was ranked third at Fremantle for inside 50 kicks last season. His stats are unique. Fremantle scored 42 per cent of the time, but had the same figure for turnovers because only 19 per cent of the entries produced marks. That told a story of Fremantle’s 2024. The Dockers were actually the best team the league last season at finding a mark inside 50 with 24 per cent of their forward entries finding someone who could take a set shot. But their biggest problem was that if they didn’t take the mark, their chances of scoring disappeared. Despite being so good at finding a target, they were also ranked 14th for turnovers from their forward entries. They were totally reliant on taking the mark. And that’s why O’Driscoll will be important. Let’s look at his six inside 50s against Melbourne in Mandurah. During the second term, he took one bounce and then drove the ball inside 50 where Shai Bolton took the mark and kicked a goal. The next term, he found Jye Amiss inside 50 but the key forward’s shot from near the boundary line didn’t make the distance. In the final quarter, O’Driscoll ran the ball inside 50 and kicked a goal. Then he hit Liam Reidy on the chest with a pass, but the ruckman dropped it while diving to take the mark. O’Driscoll later passed to Patrick Voss who took the mark and kicked the goal. His final inside 50 was produced by running the ball forward, but he then fumbled the footy. Two marks which produced goals, another that gave Freo a set shot, another mark that should have been taken plus a goal on the run is just what Fremantle need from their preferred inside 50 distributor. It was a similar story when O’Driscoll returned to the team from injury last season. He had two inside 50s against GWS after returning to the team late in the season. One resulted in a goal to Michael Frederick. And O’Driscoll kicked a goal against Port Adelaide in the final round from one of his two inside 50s. The other resulted in a turnover. Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir believes the team’s failure to hit targets when going inside 50 is the reason they haven’t scored more in the past. “Sometimes you can move the ball really well out of your back half, have great handball chain, a player gets the ball, has a running bounce and misses a kick and it goes to a turnover. Is that bad ball movement, or is that bad tying your work off? So I feel like that’s hurt us,” he said. Michael Frederick and Sam Switkowski are the other Dockers who have proven to be elite kicks inside 50. The Dockers mark the ball 36 per cent of the time when either of them produce the forward entry and score from 48 per cent of Frederick’s inside 50 kicks. Amiss is the other interesting one. Fremantle marked 40 per cent of his inside 50 kicks last season and scored 44 per cent of the time. But he’s more potent as a goalkicker when playing deep. So where will Longmuir prefer him to play? O’Driscoll has the skills and athleticism to be their guy. Big body: Tick. Endurance: Tick. Speed: Tick. Left footer: Tick. Raking kick: Tick. Loves a goal: Tick. The opening games of the season have been a reminder of why you need players with power and skill. Chad Warner was brilliant against Hawthorn last week. That’s why Fremantle and West Coast want him. Hawthorn’s left footers carved through Sydney’s defence. Finn Callaghan’s game against Collingwood was the perfect example of a left footer who can burst clear and create mayhem. Fremantle have no Young, no Nat Fyfe, no Michael Walters and no Shai Bolton. This is the chance for them to find someone new to become a impact player. O’Driscoll looms as the answer. DOCKERS KICKS INSIDE 50 DURING 2024 PLAYER Kicks Mark% Retained% Turnover% Scores% Hayden Young 111 26% 54% 36% 39% Caleb Serong 90 20% 49% 46% 33% Jeremy Sharp 84 19% 50% 42% 42% Jordan Clark 70 24% 43% 50% 33% Andrew Brayshaw 68 22% 47% 35% 35% Sam Switkowski 50 36% 48% 30% 36% Josh Treacy 42 26% 43% 45% 38% Jaeger O’Meara 39 21% 46% 33% 36% Matthew Johnson 39 18% 46% 46% 28% James Aish 38 21% 47% 45% 47% Bailey Banfield 37 30% 46% 43% 43% Luke Jackson 35 23% 54% 37% 34% Michael Frederick 31 36% 52% 39% 48% Jye Amiss 25 40% 52% 28% 44%