Mayne man motivates Dockers
Fremantle will draw inspiration from within going into Saturday's qualifying final against Sydney at ANZ Stadium, with Chris Mayne providing the blueprint for how the team must act if they are to secure the rights to a home preliminary final.
Mayne has suffered through a tough season in 2014, kicking just 13 goals, but returned to somewhere near his best in the Dockers' crucial win over Port Adelaide at the weekend.
The highlight of his performance against the Power came in the third quarter, when Mayne won a holding the ball decision with a defensive tackle on Justin Westhoff, then sprinted to the other end of the ground to mark the ball and kick his second goal of the game.
Dockers utility Tendai Mzungu said the passage of play had been highlighted in the club's review earlier this week as an example of the effort required if they are to defeat the Swans on Saturday.
"I think it was seared in everyone's memory on the day how strong an effort it was," Mzungu said.
"To see that in action on game day was really strong and yeah it was really well received by the group.
"It's going to take the full 120 minutes of efforts like that and above.
" It's what we've tried to build towards the last three years to be anytime, anywhere, any circumstance, just digging in and doing those little things.
"We'll need that on the weekend."
The last time Fremantle met Sydney in September was last year's preliminary final at Patersons Stadium, a game which saw the Dockers jump their opponents early with overwhelming pressure on the ball carrier, leading to a comfortable win.
Mzungu said both teams have changed since then and while they wouldn't use the result as motivation this week, they would aim to hit the same levels defensively.
"I think you can draw on any game where your pressure has been really good and knowing we're capable of doing it," he said.
"We do have confidence that we have been able to produce elite pressure at certain stages of this season so we'll be looking to bring that on the weekend."
