Where are both the WA clubs going?

Fremantle’s season slipped further into the mire with a 49 point loss to the Western Bulldogs at Optus Stadium on Friday night, while West Coast were again made to pay for lapses in concentration in their 40 point loss to Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval on Saturday morning.

Former Eagle Peter Sumich told Sports Breakfast the Dockers had fallen well short of preseason expectations.

“I don’t know where they’re going. This may sound absolutely silly and people will probably tear me down, but right now, unless things change at Fremantle, I think West Coast are probably closer to the Premiership,” Sumich said.

“They’ve got a lot to do, Fremantle. They got rid of a lot of players. I know they had the boos and the carry on for Lobb, but at the end of the day, he’s a very good player, he’s not a champion player of any sort, but a solid player up forward for you they got rid of Lloyd Meek, Griffin Logue, Darcy Tucker, who I rate, and then you’ve got Mundy retiring, Fyfe hasn’t been there, Taberner’s gone for the year it looks like.

“Their second tier aren’t that good at the moment, so interesting times for Fremantle and where they’re going.”

Sumich was also critical of the Eagles, saying the messaging coming out of the club had been muddled.

“Where are they actually going? Let’s be honest,” he said.

“Now [Adam Simpson’s] saying ‘oh well, we’ve got to build for the future, we’ve gotta play kids and do this and do that’, and I’m thinking, why didn’t you do that last year at list management and make some hard calls and get more kids in at the expense of some of the older players?

“That’s the way I see it, whether I’m right or wrong, that’s only my opinion, but you can’t go down one path and then at round six or round five after all the injuries try and change to another path and say we’re going to rebuild. It all should’ve been done earlier.”

Round five of the AFL season still has two games to come, with Melbourne taking on Richmond at 5:25 pm AWST today before the traditional ANZAC Day clash between Collingwood and Essendon bounces down at 1:20pm tomorrow.

Sumich said he was expecting two red-hot contests.

“I think Melbourne just edge out Richmond and I think Collingwood just edge out Essendon, but two very competitive games,” he said.

“It’ll be interesting to see where Essendon are at against an undermanned Collingwood, but a Collingwood who we all know what style they’re playing, their very aggressive style. “I think they’re going to be both close games.”

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