Scotty Watters Reviews Round 12 of the AFL (08.06.2026)

**Mark Duffield** (0:06)
Yes, he was once one of the Magnificent Seven. He was later a very good AFL player with West Coast, Fremantle and Sydney, and of course then an AFL coach with the St Kilda Saints, as well as being a very good Premiership coach with Subiaco in the Waffle. Scotty Watters joins us. Scotty, welcome.

**Scotty Watters** (0:24)
Morning, Duff, how are you?

**Mark Duffield** (0:25)
I'm very well, thank you, mate. I believe you want to hand out some bouquets to Freo after the romp against North Melbourne at the weekend.

**Scotty Watters** (0:34)
Well, it's hard not to say positive things about them at the moment, isn't it? I mean, 12 matches, they're in record breaking territory almost every week now. 12 wins, nine goals in the second quarter, biggest winning margin in the club's history. What I love about watching them at the moment is that they are very predictable. They're becoming really predictable and consistent.
Sides will go to work and they'll have a good look at them over the next three to four weeks. So, gee, their depth and their predictability and consistency is... It's hard to ignore at the moment. They look outstanding.

**Mark Duffield** (1:11)
So what are their forwards doing that is helping their team defence?

**Scotty Watters** (1:17)
Well it's almost about the quality of your entry as well. I mean, your defence really starts with the ball in hand. So where you're getting the ball inside 50 and the depth of that, and then you need a contest from your forward. So our key forwards are rarely beaten in the air, so they're always halving the contest at worst.
And that's something you can really build your defence around. So good deep penetration, getting the ball in to dangerous spots and then defending off the back of it. So they dominated North Melbourne. I mean, it was a tale of two very different clubs at different parts of their journey. But the consistency of their big three up front, the quality of their midfields, there's just lots to like about them almost at every level. I mean, besides the looking at them at the moment, they're well, where is the weakness? And it's hard to find one at the moment.

**Mark Duffield** (2:12)
Now, a game like that and a result like that says, it tells a story about two teams, doesn't it? I mean, Fremantle were really, really good. North Melbourne, I thought, were flat out awful. Where are they at, do you think, under Alistair Clarkson?

**Scotty Watters** (2:28)
I think we've seen, it's hard. When you've got a developing side with so many gaps and so many holes in it, you come up against a side that is premiership favourite. You can run into a buzzsaw, and that's what they did. If you look at their last six weeks, there's been some good patches and some good moments from North, and it's building around, there's a quality young midfield that is actually starting to come together there, but they don't have all the pieces of the puzzle in place. So you'll get a better idea of where North Melbourne are at when they come up against West Coast next week, which will be probably two sides that are in similar stages of their growth and development, and you'll start to see where they're at. So I don't think it's all doom and gloom for North. I think there's been some, you can see some quality A grade young midfielders coming through, but then you look at the size difference when you just look at Fremantle v North Melbourne, even Fremantle v Brisbane the week before, the physical conditioning and size of the Fremantle players across the board, it's massive. They just look, they look strong, they look predictable, they look consistent.
They've got to buy, they can freshen up, and then they come up against Geelong, which will be another really good test for them.

**Mark Duffield** (3:47)
Luke Jackson, absolutely dominant, 19 disposals, three goals, just running around like a gazelle, really, and reminding us all of Stephen Michael again.

**Scotty Watters** (3:57)
Very much so. I'm glad you make that comparison, because the thing that Stephen was incredible at was not just competing in the air, but it was that follow up on that ground level. He was groundbreaking, really, if you think about what Stephen Michael did. Many times this year, we've seen Luke Jackson compete at center bounce, follow up on the ground, and then actually push forward to be having shots on goal.
There's not many Ruckman this year, or even in the history of the game, that do that. Stephen Michael was a champion, one of the best ever. Luke Jackson is, he's approaching rarefied air, the way that he's going about it at the moment. He's doing things that not many Ruckman can do.