Football returns from holidays this week after spending their time off experimenting with strange ideas and far out concepts where the AFL gambled thirty million dollars of other people's money on a marketing exercise to sell Big V jumpers to children. Last year, Fremantle were involved in a poorly thought out promotion taking on the Bulldogs in Darwin where Chris Tarrant did his best to raise the profile of the now Member for Solomon.

It was Round 12 last year, just before the midseason break. The Bulldogs had whored themselves out to the Northern Territory so Fremantle had to join in on the jaunt. All seemed to be going well for Freo. They kicked 7 goals in the opening quarter and got out to a handy lead. It was a tough pace to stick at though and, with Matthew Carr unconscious on the sidelines, Freo were rolled in the last quarter to the tune of 26 points 22.9 (141) to 16.19 (115). Peter Bell had 34 touches, Scott West obviously had a lot for the Bulldogs. Brad Johnson kicked 5 and Pavlich put through 3.3

It's become a bit of a tactic for the Bulldogs to take Fremantle to far off locations with substandard surfaces and conditions not suited for football. The trip before that had more of a south east direction to it though, the Tesltra Dome.

The Bulldogs fancied their form at the Dome, having won most of their games there and kicking big scores in the process. The Dockers fancied themselves too but fell short in the last quarter when their goal kicking skills abandoned them. Matthew Pavlich had no problems with his 3 goals but Paul Medhurst's 1.5 won't crack a mention when he's showing the Anzac Day Medal to his big haired grand children. Brad Johsnon kicked 3 of the Bulldogs 15 goals. The top ball getter on the day was Scott West who got rid of the footy 29 times, Josh Carr did it 26 times for Fremantle. The umpires liked the work of Scott West, Adam Cooney and Josh Carr while the Clinton Wolf Medal voting committee went for Mundy, Grover and Medhurst on sympathy.

But before the goal kicking shambles of the past two games, it had been all Fremantle. A winning streak stretching back to 2003, where it started with an 83 point shellacking at the Telstra Dome.

The win was a long time coming for the Dockers, not having won away from home in over a year and not having two wins in a row since the turn of the Millennium. Freo started quietly but kicking 7 goals in both the second and third quarters made up for it. Paul Medhurst & Justin Longmuir top scored with 4 goals. Shaun McManus was on fire, picking up 23 possessions, 3 Brownlow votes and 3 Clinton Wolf Medal votes. Brain Harris kicked 3 goals from 4 kicks for the Bulldogs and Daniel Giansiracusa picked up 29 touches.

The last time the Bulldogs came to town, was in 2005. They didn't enjoy themselves. In another flogging, Fremantle beat the Bulldogs by 53 points, powering over the top of them with 8 last quarter goals. The small running nature of the Doggies didn't suit Subiaco Oval and the big men reigned. Luke McPharlin kicked 5 goals and Matthew Pavlich a lazy 4. Daniel Bandy kicked 3 for the Bulldogs. As expected, Scott West had a lot of the ball with 38 touches with Heath Black topping the stats for Fremantle on 30. Troy Cook, Des Headland and Scott West picked up the Brownlow votes.


Over all, Fremantle and the Bulldogs have met 16 times. Fremantle have won 7 and the Bulldogs have won 9. Of the last 5 games, Fremantle have won 3. Plane tickets costing what they do, the Western Bulldogs have only travelled west 5 times to play Fremantle and the Bulldogs have only won one of those.

So far this season, the Bulldogs haven't come up against a side capable of being them on the day and, as a result sit quite high up on the ladder. Before the break they played Sydney at the SCG where one good quarter was enough to see them home.

With a tricky draw and some injury problems, Fremantle’s competition have been quite a bit better, except for the last game where they lost to Melbourne. They are two games out of the eight.