SOME of Fremantle’s contract decisions have already been made - Michael Johnson, Hayden Ballantyne and Danyle Pearce are all headed off into the sunset, putting the club’s most successful era further in the rear-view mirror.

But some of the biggest calls are yet to come.

The biggest, by pure physical size, is Aaron Sandilands. On form alone, you’d say he goes on one more year but I get the idea he’s disillusioned. He hasn’t torn his calf but he’s sore and it looks like the Dockers might have to try to talk him into another year. That’s not a good sign.

The most eagerly-watched might be that of Harley Bennell. With two games in the best part of three seasons - and speculation of yet another calf injury - you have to say his recruitment has been an abject failure. If he gets another deal, it’s either a rookie contract or something akin to a second-round draft pick...a base salary plus match payments.

Maybe the only person at Freo who really wants to give Harley a new contract is the person who has been his biggest advocate from the start - the coach.

And there lies the most interesting question the Dockers are going to face: what to do with their coach?

A common school of thought is that they simply can’t afford to make a move on Ross Lyon, who has two years left of a big-money deal. But if that deal turned out to be front-ended, money becomes far less of an issue.

The issue of the AFL’s luxury tax should also be moot. What’s the point in keeping the wrong person in the job just to save some dollars?

Right now the Dockers are a nowhere team. You can’t blame Freo fans for walking out at three-quarter-time of the loss to Hawthorn on the weekend, because that performance was just rubbish.

The Dockers have now lost seven games by 50 or more points this season, including three of their last five. If Essendon had kicked anything like remotely straight, it would be four out of five.

The lone win in that stretch came against a Port Adelaide team that for totally inexplicable reasons played right into Fremantle’s hands in a low-scoring round 17 loss in Perth. Not since Wayne Carey chose to wrestle Glen Jakovich rather than run him off his feet has anyone given up a competitive advantage for reasons so unclear.

What seems to be Fremantle’s Plan A, is everybody else’s Plan B: strangle the life out of a game and hope the opposition score even less than you do.

It just doesn’t work. Thirteen times this season the Dockers have kicked 12 goals or less in a game and they’ve won two of them.

That might function as your fall-back, it can’t possibly be your go-to. The best teams attack and right now Freo doesn’t know how to.

The Eagles will win this week’s Western Derby by as much as they want to. I’m going to say the margin will be 27 points, only because West Coast can afford to take their feet off the gas pedal.

By Sunday’s end, Lyon’s team will have fallen to 7-12 but the big questions will still be there.

They start - and possibly finish - with the coach.

Inspiration of the week
The Real Full Monty on Sunday night was a belter, helped along by footy’s Campbell Brown and Brian Taylor. Top entertainment raising some very important awareness around prostate cancer.

Word on the street
I expect you’ll see former Crow James Gallagher bobbing up as the new list manager for St Kilda...and don’t be surprised if Graeme ‘Gubby’ Allan makes an appearance somewhere in a more formal role.

Talking bulltish
Amid all the “furore” about Patrick Dangerfield and Bernie Vince sharing a hug and a laugh after the Geelong-Melbourne match the other week, people seemed to forget Majak Daw and Aliir Aliir doing the same after the Sydney-North thriller. Either they were all in the wrong or they were all fine...but it can’t be a mix of both.