Fremantle is weighing whether to send Patrick Voss into another negating job for Saturday’s blockbuster against Brisbane after the 22-year-old was used on Callum Wilkie in last Friday night’s win over St Kilda.
Justin Longmuir said on Thursday the Dockers would consider the same sort of assignment again if the match-ups suited, putting Voss back in the mix as Fremantle finalizes plans for the Lions. The coach was also firm that he had no problem with the way Voss handled Wilkie, who was restricted to just one intercept mark.
Longmuir said he had gone back through the contest in detail and was comfortable with what he saw. “I was really happy with Vossy. When a wrestle happens, it takes two and there’s nothing to say that the forward has to play in front of the backman in the rulebook,” he said. “So Vossy tried to play behind him and Wilkie tried to play behind him and sometimes it turned into a wrestle.”
That view cuts against the public reaction from Ross Lyon, who called Voss’ tactics bizarre after the Fremantle forward played behind his man and got into several wrestles off the ball. Longmuir, though, said he understood the narrative around the duel and had watched it back closely before deciding there was blame on both sides.
The question now is whether Fremantle trusts the same approach again when Brisbane arrives. Longmuir said the club would see how the match-ups fell, adding, “We’ll see. We probably went to that last year, and it didn’t work as well as we would have liked.” Josh Treacy would be backed to handle Harris Andrews if the Lions defender went to Fremantle’s spearhead, leaving the Dockers with some flexibility around Voss’ role.
Selection also remains a moving picture around him. Captain Alex Pearce will return from a knee injury for the clash against the back-to-back premiers, while Hayden Young is no guarantee after training away from the main group on Thursday. Longmuir said Young had missed the past two matches with concussion and said he was more hopeful than confident of having him available, while Caleb Serong will miss another week with a calf injury.
Fremantle has already shown it is open to other tagging looks, with Matt Johnson stepping into a run-with role against the Saints and keeping Hugo Garcia to 10 disposals and two clearances. That option remains on the table against the Lions, which makes Voss’ role part of a wider selection puzzle rather than a one-off experiment. The final call will come down to how Longmuir balances the match-ups, the risk, and the chance to unsettle Brisbane in the one place the Dockers need it most.
