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Fremantle Midfield coach Joel Corey says external expectations are not necessarily internally held by his side as preseason ramps up for the midfield group.
The Dockers have upped the ante as demonstrated by Monday's competitive match simulations.
Numerous young guns have stood out, while dual-Brownlow medallist Nat Fyfe is back training in the midfield group after several injury-disrupted seasons.
Corey told SportFM it was encouraging to see Fyfe fit and firing back in the midfield group.
“It's important for him to bank training sessions,” he said.
“He's been having some continuity across the pre-Christmas period and then into this early part of January.
“It's great to see him out there, not only for his individual growth and continuity, but then the players around him and how they feed off him and get to work.”
Also in the midfield, Matt Johnson appears to be on track for a breakout season.
The 193cm-midfielder played 18 games last season and earned a rising star nomination for a stellar performance against Port Adelaide.
Despite the inconsistency expected with developing young players, Corey says there’s plenty of upside to him in 2024 after an eye-catching match simulation performance.
“[Johnson] has been a little bit inconsistent but that's what you get with young players,” said Corey.
“So, what he can actually do, we're really excited about. We love the fact that he comes in and works on his game all the time.
“Some of his training sessions of late, he's really starting to not only be there and playing a role, he's starting to actually influence what we're doing around the contest in the overall game.”
Some of the other midfield talents at Freo are also having solid preseason, with a differing approach to their roles.
Freo’s key midfield pillars in vice captains Andy Brayshaw and Caleb Serong, and ruckman Luke Jackson are developing and looking to have a more leadership-oriented on-field focus.
“Sometimes these players who have been around a couple of years and influenced the AFL, the way they have, aren't necessarily working on the same thing,” said Corey.
“Caleb, Andy and Luke, to extend, are working on how can they influence their teammates and the leadership side of things.
“There's always a difficult game football, the difficult game leadership, so continually they're actually developing in many different spaces.”
After missing finals in 2023 following their 2022 finals campaign, the spotlight falls back onto the Dockers’ expectations set for 2024 both internally and externally.
“External expectations don't necessarily become internal,” he said.
“We were a little bit disappointed internally about how we started the year last year and how we handled parts of it.
“Our ability to work each day, get through, review, and stick to the process of it, hopefully holds us in good stead this year.”
IMAGE: The West Australian