Different year, same old rubbish.

They do say a week is a long time in footy but was it really only seven days ago that I was telling you how the Dockers were going to improve and be better than the Eagles this year?

Based on what I see from Fremantle on the weekend it’s not happening...and there a whole bunch of reasons why.

For starters, you have to at least pay some homage to the opposition. Instead Freo turned up in Adelaide wanting to play the game entirely on their own terms.

It’s a lovely idea but it doesn’t often work out in theory. The Dockers turned up undersized and were pretty much bullied out of the game before they could even get into it.

Why Joel Hamling didn’t play is a total mystery to me. He might be a tad underdone but get him into a game and let him get some match practice under his belt...much like the Eagles did with Nic Naitanui.

Sean Darcy’s omission was equally baffling. You’ve got a key forward in Matt Taberner who neither takes marks up forward nor is in his element in the ruck.

Surely the obvious solution is to play two big blokes in Aaron Sandilands and Darcy and throw them forward to rest. Even if they don’t mark the footy, they’re going to bring the ball down for the likes of Brandon Matera, Hayden Ballantyne and Michael Walters.

No disrespect to Nat Fyfe but he got a bake at half-time and he deserved it. Brad Ebert and Olly Wines worked him over and when they ran the other way, he didn’t necessarily want to go with them.

The Power had David Mundy figured out as well, while they were perfectly happy to let Lachie Neale get the footy 38 times: he’s never really going to hurt you.

Camera Icon Lachie Neale - nice player, won’t hurt you a whole bunch. Credit: Getty Images

Game plan is one thing and execution is another...and the Dockers simply weren’t up to AFL standard with that.

A golfer goes out and hits a bucket of balls umpteen times a day, with the aim of being able to execute a skill when the pressure is on. I don’t see the Dockers train every day but they need to be chasing the same formula: hone the technique so it stands up when things get hot.

Bradley Hill’s disposal on the weekend wasn’t up to scratch. But he’s better than that and you can have an off day.

Danyle Pearce, though, is in the never-again basket. Which part of the supposed rebuild is he? He’s fashioned himself a nice career that he can look back on with some pride but he’s not the answer to anything.

Shane Kersten doesn’t work hard enough. Cam McCarthy picks and chooses when he wants to work. I’m worried about Michael Johnson, who at his age can’t stay with a man even if he was asked to (which he never is!).

I thought Brandon Matera was pretty good, Andy Brayshaw showed a bit and Bailey Banfield did enough to be encouraged.

But there was no sign of the fast, accurate movement of the ball that Fremantle flashed during the pre-season games.

The JLT series is like dancing with your sister: a false economy where teams aren’t afraid to try things out because nobody cares about the result. Come the regular season, things change pretty quickly.

In some ways, the Dockers - like my Bulldogs - might as well be 0-3. You get flogged in round one and it’s a long way back in a season where it’s very possible seventh and 12th or 13th might be separated by only half a game and percentage.

Ross Lyon says it’s easy to get beaten in this comp by 50 points. Please! You can spare me that line of thinking.

Don’t forget, coaches can be out-of-form too - and it’s worth noting he’s now won 12 of his last 45 games.

Camera Icon Tim Kelly is one of the AFL’s nicest stories this year. Credit: Getty Images

This week’s inspiration:

Hard not to love what Tim Kelly has done at Geelong. Yes, he’s landed at a pretty good side but it’s terrific to see a kid who basically went to the draft six times and never got a chance, find an opportunity and run with it.

Talking bulltish:

A memo to the Australian cricketing leaders: if you want to do something, have the guts to do it yourself. Mind you, I don’t reckon Cam Bancroft is out of the woods on this one either: he’s 25 and, same as the Essendon supplement players, had the option to “just say no.”

Word on the street:

Going to be very interesting to see how Richard Douglas fares at the AFL tribunal tomorrow night. In the wake of the Katie Brennan stuff, it’s a verdict that had to be challenged and to my mind the first piece of contact is to the shoulder and not the head. Should get off.

Brownlow medallist Brad Hardie writes for PerthNow each Monday of the 2018 AFL season. You can also hear him on Radio 6PR daily with Oliver Peterson on Drive.