Western derby 57 is shaping up as a game of contrasting styles as Champion Data reveals the numbers behind Fremantle and West Coast’s mini resurgence.
Both teams have found flashes of form across the past fortnight after lacklustre campaigns, with gutsy wins and a nail-biting defeat inspiring hope their 57th meeting on Saturday night will live up to the rich history of the cross-town rivalry.
Fremantle have made no secret of being a team that scores from clearances.
When their engine room, featuring Caleb Serong and Andrew Brayshaw, plays well, the Dockers can match it with the best of them, as evidenced in their shock upset of Geelong at GMHBA Stadium.
So it’s no surprise over the past three weeks they have lifted themselves into the top six clubs in the competition for clearances and points kicked from those clearances.
Most impressively, Fremantle produced a score from 40 per cent of centre clearances won, the highest conversion rate in the competition across the past three weeks, leading to them kicking the most points in the league from that source.
It helps that Luke Jackson is currently rated by Champion Data as the second-best ruckman in the AFL, “purely assessing players in the ruck across 2023”, behind Melbourne skipper Max Gawn.
On the other hand, the Eagles midfield’s inability to win the ball from clearances has seen their undermanned defence besieged throughout 2023.
But West Coast have found a silver lining in recent weeks, making those defenders an attacking weapon.
Despite going down to the Bombers by a point in a heartbreaker at Marvel Stadium last week, the Eagles produced 43 points from defensive transitions – moving the ball from the back 50 to score – their best return since round four of their premiership season.
Their percentage of turning defensive transitions into points was also the fourth highest registered since 2017, at 60 per cent.
West Coast’s turnaround in pressure efforts has also made them the third-best team at scoring from turnovers over the last two rounds.
Tom Cole’s progression after returning from injury clearly indicates the shift in style.
Between rounds 18 and 21, he has been rated elite in intercept marks, intercept possessions, uncontested possessions and marks.