Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir is considering the best way to stretch Carlton’s depleted defence when the two sides meet on Saturday afternoon.
The fifth-placed Blues host the third-placed Dockers at Marvel Stadium, a venue where Michael Voss’ side has kicked over 100 points and won all four of their games this year.
However, it’s down the other end of the ground where the headaches begin for the Blues. Mid-season draftee Sam Durdin was the latest to go down with injury last week, joining fellow tall defenders Jacob Weitering, Caleb Marchbank, Mitch McGovern, Oscar McDonald, Luke Parks on the sidelines.
It creates a unique opportunity for Longmuir’s side to take full toll, and their hopes could rest on the shoulders of key forward Matt Taberner.
Taberner hasn’t played at AFL level since Round 11 after suffering back spasms, but did kick three goals in the WAFL last week.
Longmuir said the club will wait until the last minute to make a decision on his availability.
“Tabs (Taberner) is obviously going to come under consideration,” he told SEN’s Dwayne’s World.
“We clearly see him in our best team, it’s just a matter of when that happens and he’s been in and out a fair bit this year so we want to get continuity this year.
“I think he’s been out of the side since that Melbourne game and had that back injury. We think he’s over that now so he’s really close to coming back into the side.
“It’s just about getting him some continuity and making sure when he comes back in he’s ready to go and ready to put a good block together.”
Even without Taberner, the Dockers can still take advantage of Carlton’s defensive issues.
However, Longmuir said the club won’t make decisions that will unsettle their line-up.
“That (Carlton’s defence) definitely comes into consideration. Absolutely,” he added.
“We want to give ourselves the best chance of winning and they’ve obviously got their issues down back, but we need to make sure we have a good, balanced forward line.
“That gives us a good ability to remain consistent down there. It’s been a bit of a revolving door for our forward line with injuries and now we’ve lost (Sam) Switkowski as well for a longer period of time.
“We really want to get some continuity with our forward line, so they can learn to work together and defend and attack in the right manner.”
Captain Nat Fyfe will be playing his second game this season and is another potential key to the Dockers beating the Blues.
The 30-year-old played a 50/50 split between the forward line and midfield last time out and he’ll once again go where the team needs him on Saturday.
“Yeah absolutely, but we’ve just got to make sure we’re getting it there first,” Longmuir stated.
“If we’re getting it there enough and we’re just not capitalising then we’ll probably play him forward a bit more, but if we’re not getting it done around the contest - and as I said, Carlton are a really good contested team - then we might play him there so we can get a bit of field position first.
“You go into a game with a plan, but those things can change pretty quickly.”
Lewis Young and Lachie Plowman will be entrusted with holding down Carlton’s defence, while Brodie Kemp could also play tall for the Blues down back.