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Anchors away: how Fremantle became a real force
By Jessica Halloran
April 3, 2004
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Fremantle were once a team with no respect but Chris Connolly - their coach, motivator and a man unafraid to wave an inflatable Dockers' anchor on the boundary line after a win - has moulded his young side into a force.
The Dockers are no longer the easybeats that the opposition used to boost their percentage. And Connolly uses that as motivation.
"If you lost to Fremantle in Melbourne, then they'd be looking to sack the president, CEO and coach on the Monday," he said. "Because when you lose to Fremantle, you are a disgrace.
"But I think now people are saying, 'This team is not too bad, they are going to be really competitive, and you know they may get up at times'. That's a significant mind shift because the fear of failure can be as strong a motivator as the will to be successful.
"And by hell there was no greater fear of failure than losing to Fremantle when they were away from home. And hopefully that's changing."
Like Swans coach Paul Roos, Connolly has injected his football club with new belief and confidence. Last year Connolly pushed Fremantle into their first finals series since their inception in 1995. Now the focus is on improving their away record.
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"We need to win five of the 10 consistently away to get where we want to go [this year]," he said. "That's a big challenge for us. . . We had six guys last year who'd never been to Sydney play in our team. Again with experience they are learning to handle the situation better."
Roos and Connolly have a lot in common - including their football careers. Connolly yesterday told of how the Sydney coach once helped him.
"It's a true story, I don't know if [Roos would] remember this," Connolly said. "We'd go outside the Junction Oval and Fitzroy was down at [Melbourne's] Lakeside Oval and John Northey was coach and we were doing a training session and Paul must have been doing a lap around the lake there and he stopped and practised his trash talking on me while I was training. For about 15 minutes, just yelling out . . . it was very abusive actually.
"He's calling me every name under the sun while I was training. I don't know if he was trying to say, 'Look, if you can deal with this', if he was trying to help me."
Roos chimed in: "I've always been trying to help you."
But not tomorrow. Fremantle have only a few experienced players, such as Peter Bell. One of their rising stars is Aaron Sandilands.
At 211cm and weighing 120kg Sandilands is phenomenally agile and quick. Over 800m, Sandilands is as fast as Bell, who is 174cm and weighs 84kg.
"He must be tripping over his own two feet," Connolly thought of his ruckman when he was first told of his height.
"He dominated the hit-outs but lost the clearances last week. But he played a significant role around the ground directing the ball. I think he's starting to have influence on games. If we can have enough players doing that then we end up a real competitive force. I feel for the first time at Fremantle we are in a position where we are a real chance in every game."
Over the years, Roos and Connolly have kept in contact. Their paths crossed again when Roos was awarded the Sydney coaching job - and he went on another jog.
"I went for a run around Lakeside Oval [at Moore Park] when I first got the job," Roos said. "Chris was plodding away out there. I jogged up and we had a good chat. He kept up with me for about 800 metres but then I took off.
"We are from the same era. We've got a lot of similar philosophies about football. Chris enjoys talking about football and is very engaging. We talk when we can but there's a bit of distance - it's a fair way across the Nullarbor."
The Swans added another player to their injury list yesterday - Jarrad Sundqvist is out for the season after rupturing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right leg. The injury happened at the end of training. He was to have played reserves.
Tadhg Kennelly (knee) completed training yesterday and is certain to line up for the Swans.
By Jessica Halloran
April 3, 2004
Print this article
Email to a friend
Fremantle were once a team with no respect but Chris Connolly - their coach, motivator and a man unafraid to wave an inflatable Dockers' anchor on the boundary line after a win - has moulded his young side into a force.
The Dockers are no longer the easybeats that the opposition used to boost their percentage. And Connolly uses that as motivation.
"If you lost to Fremantle in Melbourne, then they'd be looking to sack the president, CEO and coach on the Monday," he said. "Because when you lose to Fremantle, you are a disgrace.
"But I think now people are saying, 'This team is not too bad, they are going to be really competitive, and you know they may get up at times'. That's a significant mind shift because the fear of failure can be as strong a motivator as the will to be successful.
"And by hell there was no greater fear of failure than losing to Fremantle when they were away from home. And hopefully that's changing."
Like Swans coach Paul Roos, Connolly has injected his football club with new belief and confidence. Last year Connolly pushed Fremantle into their first finals series since their inception in 1995. Now the focus is on improving their away record.
advertisement
advertisement
"We need to win five of the 10 consistently away to get where we want to go [this year]," he said. "That's a big challenge for us. . . We had six guys last year who'd never been to Sydney play in our team. Again with experience they are learning to handle the situation better."
Roos and Connolly have a lot in common - including their football careers. Connolly yesterday told of how the Sydney coach once helped him.
"It's a true story, I don't know if [Roos would] remember this," Connolly said. "We'd go outside the Junction Oval and Fitzroy was down at [Melbourne's] Lakeside Oval and John Northey was coach and we were doing a training session and Paul must have been doing a lap around the lake there and he stopped and practised his trash talking on me while I was training. For about 15 minutes, just yelling out . . . it was very abusive actually.
"He's calling me every name under the sun while I was training. I don't know if he was trying to say, 'Look, if you can deal with this', if he was trying to help me."
Roos chimed in: "I've always been trying to help you."
But not tomorrow. Fremantle have only a few experienced players, such as Peter Bell. One of their rising stars is Aaron Sandilands.
At 211cm and weighing 120kg Sandilands is phenomenally agile and quick. Over 800m, Sandilands is as fast as Bell, who is 174cm and weighs 84kg.
"He must be tripping over his own two feet," Connolly thought of his ruckman when he was first told of his height.
"He dominated the hit-outs but lost the clearances last week. But he played a significant role around the ground directing the ball. I think he's starting to have influence on games. If we can have enough players doing that then we end up a real competitive force. I feel for the first time at Fremantle we are in a position where we are a real chance in every game."
Over the years, Roos and Connolly have kept in contact. Their paths crossed again when Roos was awarded the Sydney coaching job - and he went on another jog.
"I went for a run around Lakeside Oval [at Moore Park] when I first got the job," Roos said. "Chris was plodding away out there. I jogged up and we had a good chat. He kept up with me for about 800 metres but then I took off.
"We are from the same era. We've got a lot of similar philosophies about football. Chris enjoys talking about football and is very engaging. We talk when we can but there's a bit of distance - it's a fair way across the Nullarbor."
The Swans added another player to their injury list yesterday - Jarrad Sundqvist is out for the season after rupturing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right leg. The injury happened at the end of training. He was to have played reserves.
Tadhg Kennelly (knee) completed training yesterday and is certain to line up for the Swans.
