Attention to detail

by NEIL BELFORD Fremantle Herald

NAMING Rights Available Football Theatre saw a very engrossing first act last Sunday but from the moment Leigh Colbert KO'd Justin Longmuir the script wasn't much good.

From then on that reject ruckman Matthew Burton gave North Melbourne first (and last) use of the ball.

So the Dockers got hammered, unfortunately it didn't stop them playing like millionaires - no coach seems to be able to get them to man up and shut a game down. Still at least they didn't play like the robots of the Drum era, where an opposition coach could do his game plan a month in advance.

Fremantle now has to pay some attention to its player ranks - nowhere is this more important than to have a little think about Shaun McManus.

He is very good a getting the ball, a highly rated skill in the game. As good as he is at that he is bad at disposal. The more possessions he gets the worse Fremantle does - and in this era of mindless stats-driven media fairest and bests, he also gets votes from some people - and he is co-captain.

There is no doubting the courage and commitment of McManus, but attention to detail and a bit of self evaluation are required. He is not a star of the AFL and shouldn't attempt to play like one.

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