The weather was shocking, the umpires made the weather look good and Fremantle were behind for most of the day but in a thrilling finish the Dockers dug deep into their bags of courage and over ran the Lions in the dying stages of the game. The Dockers looked sunk when Akermanis produced a sensation goal to give them a nine point lead in time-on in the last quarter but some Medhurst Magic and Schammer Time got them up by 3 points.

Fremantle v Brisbane
Saturday July 5th, 2003
Subiaco Oval

With the wind blowing up a storm, engineers were double checking the plans to make sure that they'd put enough bolts into the stadium and small children were being tied down to their seats by cautious parents. In these sort of conditions winning the toss was going to be crucial. Luckily for Fremantle they had a ring-in to toss the coin - Matt Price, author of the Fremantle Dockers book Way To Go was there to do the honors. You can never trust a journalist though, even a one eyed Fremantle supporting one and sure enough, the coin came down heads, just as Michael Voss predicted.

Freo were kicking in to a 10 goal breeze, a 15 goal breeze from Aaron Sandilands's altitude. They had learnt last week how important a good start was when the weather is a bit iffy and went in hard early. It was tough going, the wind was all over the shop and the players were all over each other. Both sides remained goalless for most of the quarter, only able to scrounge a few points between them. It took something a bit special to get the goal umpire's hand out of his pocket and Michael Voss was the man to provide it. He threw the ball on his boot out of a ruck knock, snapped it around his body and bounced it under a diving Roger Hayden for a goal.

It gave the Dockers a chance to regroup in the centre and get some of that Chris Connolly: Master Tactician action happing. They cleared it from the centre with a booming kick from Shaun McManus but in a rare error, the McManus kick missed it's mark. Not to worry though because Steven "Oliver" Koops snuck up behind Nigel Lappin, stole the ball from him and then handed it over to Peter "Fagan" Bell. Bell had no trouble fencing the footy and put it into the Alinta Gas sign for a goal.

The Dockers went straight into attack again and after ginning about on the right flank for a while decided to drag the ball over to the left. Another penetrating kick from McManus found the hands of Paul Medhurst deep in the pocket. In an attempt to press for selection in the Papal XXIII when he heads to the Vatican over the summer, Paul The Benevolent decided not to swing around onto his right and have a crack at goals. Instead he saw Paul The Ordinary Shepherd alone in a paddock and passed it to Hasleby. Hasleby ran around and booted the Dockers second goal.

The Dockers hit the front and with the 10 goal breeze factor, were actually up by 11. When they realised that fact they decided to play for time and short kicks and handpasses became the disposal of choice. The Lions weren't having any luck with their long kicking with the breeze, thanks mainly due to the overhead skills of Shane Parker's men. They took their chance though when Bradshaw was given a half free kick, just outside 50. He went back another 10 metres to take his shot and the ball traveled straight over the goal umpires head and landed somewhere around the Chicken Treat stand at the back of the stands. Brisbane hit the front but Chris Connolly was salivating at the thought of Pavlich getting hold of the footy with that wind at his back (some will tell you he was salivating at the thought of the chicken fillet burger that came back with the ball but they're wrong). The siren blew and at the end of the quarter the Dockers were a point behind.

The second quarter got underway and the gale forced wind was blowing in the purple blokes direction yet they seemed reluctant to use it. Shane Parker has spent most of the season running up and down Fremantle Oval in an attempt to prove his fitness, he put that training into action when he ran from full back to centre half forward, bouncing weaving and generally making Lions players look foolish. Half a dozen bounces later he kicked the ball long into the forward line, but as any defender will tell you, forwards are all show and Medhurst couldn't finish off Parker's good work.

The Lions kicked out from goals and went straight down the middle and with Shane Parker still making his way back, there was no one to marshal the troops. Leppitsch got free, the ball found him and, despite Robbie Haddrill coming very close to actually flying, the ball cleared him for a goal.

It's never an easy job when you've got three Brownlow medallists in the opposition midfield and there weren't many spots in the centre that Aaron Sandilands could actually tap the ball to. He thought he'd found a spot but Simon Black was quick to fill it and the Lions cleared the ball easily. It's never an easy job when you've got Polak, Haddrill and McPharlin to get past in the backline and despite Akermanis's best efforts to look good for the cameras, his long bomb forward went straight down the throat of Polak.

The Dockers broke quickly and Pavlich did his bowling ball impression down the centre (the Lions were kind enough to do their bowling pin impressions) . He got the ball into the forward line and The Wiz ran onto it. But like Medhurst had earlier, he didn't play the role of greedy forward. Perhaps it was an attempt to appease fundamentalist Christian Schools who had banned his highlights tapes after claims he promoted the use of witchcraft. Whatever the reason it was a bad decision and as he tried to give off a handpass he was swamped by Brisbane players. He coughed up the ball and the Lions had it in their forward line quicker than you could say "just kick the bloody thing". Brisbane ginned about with the ball for a while before the bald headed Pike bobbed up and kicked a couple of back to back goals. If you play the replays of Pyke side by side it produces a couple of buttocks but it was Fremantle who were behind - 20 points behind.

It was well into time on, the Dockers were supposed to be kicking with the wind and yet they hadn't kicked a goal for the quarter. But Charman was a little too keen to impress the coach and, as per team instructions, he gave one to Des Hedland in the kidney, off the ball. After a bit of pushing and shoving Des went back to take his kick. He drilled it straight through the middle of the goals and then went the Kasey Chambers by showing his true colours and holding his jumper up for the crowd to see (either that or he was grabbing his nipples to point out just how much milking he'd just done).

Whatever the story it got the crowd and the players fired up and the Dockers took things up a notch. They went bang out of the middle and Luke McPharlin was lining up for another Fremantle goal within seconds. He sprayed the kick but it gave Pavlich a chance to show his wares by pulling in a one hander at full forward. Pavlich had no trouble kicking the goal and Fremantle were 7 points down going into the half time break. Their only regret was that Charman hadn't had a crack at Dessy a bit earlier - they would have kicked another 5.

AFL Officials were abuzz after half-time. It seems that Brisbane had brought an extra player onto the ground, according to the crowd he was a Muslim bloke by the name of Huson Voss. He was everywhere and he seemed to have a lot of supporters. Huson Voss they cried as he dished out a handpass to Copeland resulting in a goal. Huson Voss they cried as he cleared the ball from the centre. Huson Voss they cried as they pointed to him standing on his own in the Lions forward half. Huson Voss they cried as he kicked another goal. In fact Huson Voss had so much of the footy that 5 minutes into the quarter the Dockers were 25 points down. As you'd expect, the AFL refused to step in and do something abut him.

Freo were in a fair bit of trouble. They were able to contain the Brisbane scoreboard from ticking over for a while but were struggling to peg back the deficit. Half way through the quarter they still hadn't kicked a goal. Luckily The Wiz had gotten the greedy bug back and when the ball spilled to him in the forward line he swooped. Ignoring the 5 other blokes in better position, he snapped around his body and curled the footy through for a major.

It was an inspirational goal and it certainly inspired his team mates. They fired the footy out of the middle and bottled it up in the forward line. Sandilands thumped it down to Matty Pavlich who went the banana kick from 45 metres out and snuck it through for a goal of his own. It wasn't one of those plastic, production line Queensland bananas either, an organically grown, boomerang style Canarvon bananas that'll poke your eye out if you don't eat them correctly.

Fremantle were back within 10 points of the reigning premiers, the clock was ticking down and they were kicking with a 10 goal breeze in the last quarter - you can pretty much work out for yourself what happens next. Bald umpire number one plucked out a free kick that had even the most one eyed Brisbane supporters blushing. Shaun Hart dived at Antoni Grover's feet giving the Fremantle defender no option but to trip over him. While Grover was wiping the mud off his nose from the face plant he'd just done, the umpire had blown his whistle and was setting the mark for Hart's shot on goals. Hart kicked the goal and Freo went into the last break 3 goals down.

The last quarter got under way with a free kick to the Dockers. Shaun Hart had seen a replay of his last kick and decided he was immune from the rules and gave Peter Bell a push in the back that sent him half the length of the square. Freo attacked hard but Brisbane were up to the challenge and a couple of points were all the Dockers could squeeze out of them. It was tight, hard pressure footy. Space and time were harder to come by at Subi than a hotdog that lived up to the first part of it's name but not the second. It was another long wait for a Fremantle goal and after peppering the goals for the first 15 minutes they finally broke through. Troy Cook marked 50 metres out directly in front. He was having delusions of grandeur and went back to take his kick with an air of confidence - or did he. In a move of absolute cunning, he deliberately kicked it off the side of his boot to a nest of Fremantle forwards lurking in the pocket. Paul Medhurst got the sit on Peter Bell (if you can call getting over Peter Bell a sit) and brought in the mark. He landed on his feet, summed up the goals, said bugger the Pope's footy team, ran around and kicked the goal.

The crowd went mad. For the Brisbane players it really was a cauldron of fear with 28,000 Fremantle supporters yelling and screaming without a hint of organised chanting or clapping. There was no option but for the Fremantle players to get geed up. They cleared it from the centre but the intense Brisbane tackling made scoring too hard. The Lions cleared it and headed up towards their own goals but couldn't get past the 211cm giant camped at centre half back. Sandilands smashed the ball forward where Hasleby and Farmer tried to produce something special. They couldn't and Gram mopped up in front of goals.

Gram tried to clear the ball when out of nowhere, like some sort of giant flying squirrel came Jlo. He threw himself in front of the ball and spoiled the kick. The ball bounced into the goal square and he quickly retracted his wings, got the outside of his boot onto the ball and kicked the goal of the year. Freo were 3 points down and the cauldron was boiling.

It was tense stuff. A couple of points went to each side as a bloke named Rushed started to work his way into the game and onto the socreboard. Then For some reason Leigh Matthew benched him and when the Lions had the ball very close to goals, the Dockers took the option to run the ball out of defense. It proved to be an inspired move by the Lions because Freo coughed up the ball at half back. Akermanis then showed why Brisbane are prepared to put up with all his shenanigans. He picked up the ball on the boundary line 45m out, spun on one foot and slotted the ball through for a goal. Akker carried on like a goose while Fremantle supporters looked to the clock to see if there was still time.

There was just over 20 minutes gone with about 4 minutes of actual game time left. A quick reply was what we were after and Charman going for a run through the centre wasn't what Fremantle wanted to see. Charman going for a run through the centre without bothering to bounce the ball however, was exactly what Fremantle wanted to see and Haseleby was given a free kick on the wing.

He went long to Jlo who brought the ball to the ground. Byron Schammer pounced on the ball, produced the yeah Schammer, go Schammer, hey Schammer, yo Schammer and the rest can go and play maneuver which got him around about 5 Lions players - then he ran into and dobbed the goal.

Fremantle were back in the hunt, 4 points behind. They took a knock em over and knock it forward at all costs approach. They hit them hard and they hit them often until eventually Hasleby got a boot to ball. It wasn't too anyone but with Paul Hasleby you can never tell. Medhurst shook his man loose and bolted to the footy, in one movement he picked up the ball, threw it on his boot and snapped it over his head. He didn't even need to look at the goals, he knew it was through and proceeded to celebrate accordingly. Eventually the goal umpire caught up with Medhurst, he signaled the goal and the Dockers had hit the lead.

With enough time still on the clock, Freo decided to turn it into a percentage booster. Cook got the kick out of the middle and in a matter of seconds Shaun McManus was running at the goals. He snapped the ball but was lucky to put it through for a behind. It was about then that the entire side looked down and realised they were up pretty high.

They pulled back from the attacking footy and went on the back foot. They bottled up, pushed to the boundary line and slowed things down but with 30 seconds still left to play Martin Pike somehow managed to take a mark 75 metres out from the Brisbane goals. He went long and high to the goal square, there were Brisbane players everywhere but off the long run up came Luke McPharlin. He pulled out his saddle, strapped it to Luke Power and rode him for all he was worth - pulling in he mark of the day in the process. As he came down with the ball in his arms, the game all but won and the crowd producing a deafening roar, you could hear the faint cry from within the sound proof coaches box of Fremantle "how many times do I have to tell him - punch from behind ". It didn't matter though, the siren sounded and the Dockers were over the line by what Sports Tonight would call the narrowest of margins - 3 points.

Scores

Fremantle 2.2 4.5 6.8 10.15 75 Brisbane 2.3 5.6 9.8 10.12 72

Goals

Fremantle   P.Medhurst 2   M.Pavlich 2   B.Schammer 1   J.Longmuir 1   D.Headland 1   P.Bell 1   J.Farmer 1   P.Hasleby 1                     Brisbane     M.Pike 3   M.Voss 2   J.Leppitsch 2   J.Akeramanis 1   D.Bradshaw 1   R.Copeland 1   S.Hart 1

Clinto Wolf Medal Votes

Byron Schammer 3 Troy Cook 2 Aaron Sandilands 1