NORTH Melbourne’s wrecking ball George Wardlaw is being backed to regain his midfield mojo in Saturday night’s clash with Fremantle at Optus Stadium.
Wardlaw’s output has dipped notably over the past three AFL games, with a 14-disposal, four-clearance effort against Richmond followed by even quieter games against Collingwood (11 disposals, one clearance) and West Coast (nine disposals, zero clearances).
Wardlaw was so quiet in last week’s 10-point win over West Coast in Bunbury that coach Alastair Clarkson moved him into attack for most of the last quarter.
“He’s going OK. He’s just not playing the footy to the level that he’d like just at the present time, but he’s a warrior,” Clarkson said.
“We pushed him forward in the last part of the game, and there was a contest on the wing – it was like a car crash.
“There were four in the contest, and no one gave up … bodies flying everywhere.
“George was probably the catalyst for the collision.
Clarkson is keen to play Wardlaw in the midfield against Fremantle’s powerful onball brigade.
“His best is a high level,” Clarkson said.
“Guys go through little patches in their game where they’re not finding the footy as much as they’d like, and he has the flexibility to play forward.
North Melbourne, which has sold home games to West Coast and Fremantle, has been enjoying its extended stay in Western Australia, and it even received a visit from former Test stars Mitch and Shaun Marsh this week.
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Fremantle (7-5) has catapulted itself back into the premiership picture on the back of impressive wins over Greater Western Sydney, Port Adelaide and Gold Coast.
And with games in Perth against North Melbourne, Essendon and St Kilda to come over the next three weeks, Fremantle has an excellent chance to entrench itself in the top eight.
“Most importantly, we’ve tried not to make it a narrative,” Dockers coach Justin Longmuir said of the key to beating the bye hoodoo.
“(We) understand that the things we’ve been doing prior to the bye have been working, so it’s been more getting back to that process.
“Rather than getting caught up in, ‘We need to win off the bye’ or ‘Previous byes haven’t worked for us’.”
