Advertisement

Carlton under no illusion about facing Freo

Michael Jamison, on Swan Kurt Tippett’s hammer, says Carlton expect Fremantle to bounce back from their shock round-18 loss to St Kilda. Pic: AFL Media

Experienced Carlton defender Michael Jamison yesterday labelled Fremantle's loss to St Kilda "an anomaly" and said the Blues were bracing themselves for a ferocious response this week.

The Dockers tumbled from second to fourth with the defeat and might need to win their remaining five home-and-away games to secure a top-two finish.

Jamison said the Blues were aware that Fremantle, who went into the St Kilda game on an eight-match winning streak, wouldn't play so poorly again.

"It was certainly an anomaly," Jamison said. "We won't expect anything like that this week back in Perth. We know how tight the competition is and they're certainly fighting for a top-four spot.

"Even after last week, they're still certainly the benchmark of the competition and a great challenge for us. We're going to really test ourselves and mark ourselves against those top sides.

"There's no doubt they'll want to respond. I guess we could see some things that St Kilda did really well, but we didn't look at them and think they're certainly beatable."

"The way I was looking at it was 'they're going to want to respond and we'll have to match that'."

Fremantle's firepower forward of centre will be boosted by the return from suspension of Hayden Ballantyne.

The volatile goalsneak kicked 3.3 from 17 possessions the last time Fremantle played against Carlton.

Jamison said the Blues had no interest in trying to provoke Ballantyne because they were wary of the tactic working against them.

"In the past, when teams have tried to get into him, he's got a good way of getting some free kicks out of it and kicking some goals," Jamison said.

"I think we'll just let our boys play on them like they usually do and try to get the better of him like that."

Jamison said Carlton's 23-point win over North Melbourne last Friday week had set "minimum standards" for his team to achieve each week.

The Blues are 13th on the ladder with a 6-11 record.