21/02/2008 12:54 PM
It may only be round two of the NAB Cup but Fremantle coach Mark Harvey is already starting the mind games.
The Dockers tackle Adelaide in a quarter-final clash at AAMI Stadium on Sunday and Harvey showed he had learnt plenty from his time under Kevin Sheedy when asked about the upcoming match.
"There'll be five or six players that will come into the side. I want Adelaide to do a bit of study on that, so I won't tell you what it is now," Harvey said with a cheeky smile.
"In fact they may have some distractions over there in Adelaide. There's a big car race (Clipsal 500) on over there at the moment. So Neil, if you're listening, I hope you enjoy the car racing."
Veteran Peter Bell won't play his first game of 2008 until next week, while young ruckman Robert Warnock will play a half of football in the WAFL pre-season competition this weekend.
But Harvey confirmed 19-year-old Chris Mayne, who was taken with pick No. 40 in last year's national draft, would line up against the Crows.
Harvey said he placed a big emphasis on winning games in the NAB Cup in order to create a winning culture at the club.
"A winning culture is always what coaches and players look for. It's a big plus at this time of the year," he said.
"The motivation is for the players to rehearse what we've practised, to understand how to handle pressure in all sorts of ways and then to apply a relentless output on how they play."
"We've got a good record in Adelaide so the boys are pretty keen to keep that going."