THE CAREER-BEST form of Fremantle ruckman Aaron Sandilands can simply be put down to confidence in his body, teammate Tendai Mzungu says.
Sandilands has returned to his elite best after several injury-plagued seasons. The 211cm giant had a career-high 58 hit-outs on Saturday night in Fremantle's 48-point win over Gold Coast.
The 31-year-old was named All Australian in three consecutive years from 2008 to 2010, but has battled serious injury over the past three seasons, including his infamous turf toe issue and a severe hamstring injury last year.
Mzungu believes Sandilands’ faith in his own body has led to his stunning performances.
"I think he's just rapt to have his body at full strength because he's obviously had his issues over the years," Mzungu said.
"He's just got confidence. It takes him a little while to get his touch when he's been out for awhile. So he's been able to get straight in there and he's been really clean with the ball and he's covering the ground really well also.
"He's thrilled to be cherry ripe and he's given us first hands at every contest so it's been great for our mids to be able to feed off him."
One of those midfielders, Stephen Hill, was a major beneficiary of Sandilands’ dominance against the Suns. The ruckman had 21 hit-outs to advantage and Hill got on the end of four of them.
Hill says the midfielders are delighted with Sandilands' supply.
"It makes it easy when he's just hitting it perfectly," Hill said.
"We just have to make sure us mids are doing the job as well, getting in there and winning the ball and not letting him down."
The Dockers have had the perfect start to 2014 with comfortable wins over Collingwood and Gold Coast but the Grand Final rematch with Hawthorn looms this Friday night.
Mzungu understands there will be a big build up and plenty of talk about redemption but he echoed the words of his coach Ross Lyon in saying that last year's result is well and truly in the past.
"We'll acknowledge there is going to be a lot of hype about it," Mzungu said.
"It's a big game externally but for us it's as important as last week's game. We won't be focusing on redemption.
"It's just important for us to go out there and really challenge Hawthorn.
"They're the benchmark team but we'll have a real crack at them.
