Jarrod Harbrow’s outstanding career record against Fremantle could be the key to Gold Coast unlocking back-to-back victories, and claiming its first scalp at footy’s infamous ‘House of Pain’. 

Despite Freo’s reputation as a defensive powerhouse, the clever wingman has always produced his best football in the face of the purple haze, averaging a career best 24 disposals, including a season-high 32 touches in round six last season; his first 30-plus disposal performance in a GC SUNS Guernsey. 

Given his excellent dash and carry with the football, SUNS assistant coach Matthew Primus believes Harbrow’s style of play will be well suited on the extra surface afforded at Patersons Stadium. 

“He’s obviously played well there last year against West Coast, and played well here against Fremantle,” Primus said.

“He’s brilliant when he gets the ball in his hands… he’s another one of our midfielders who is playing at the top of his game and challenges these really good teams.”

Primus says it has been Harbrow’s work off the ball that has helped the 25-year-old take his game to another level. 

“He is just very incisive when he gets the footy. He is a good kick inside-50 as well, and has really improved his work when he doesn’t have the ball.

“We definitely noticed that over the pre-season and into round one.”

A polished week of training has been planned for the Gold Coast this week, with the team scheduled to fly out of Brisbane on Thursday in a bid to meet the travel demands of travelling to Perth.

But Primus says the senior squad is feeling refreshed after their round one spilt fixture, and are ready to sink their teeth into the 2013 grand finalist as the team looks to build on its promising season start.

 “We’ve had a good week on the track, and also enjoyed a weekend off, so we’ll go over to Perth looking to make sure we keep up that effort and performance up.”

“Freo showed how good they are going to be against Collingwood, but it’s a great challenge for us to go over there and play the grand finalists from last year.

“I think it’s just about making sure our effort is good for four quarters. When our efforts have been really good we’ve been able to tick over the scoreboard, and that will be the No. 1 key against Fremantle.

“We know what to expect but we have to take what we’re really good at and implement that against them, and if we sustain that for as long as we can we’ll be a really good chance of winning.”