It had all the hallmarks of just another Derby. The coaches were telling the media how the game is only worth 4 points and the players were trying hard not to show any emotion. Then it happened. Like a plumber bending down to tie his shoe, Clive exposed just a little more then he should have telling the world that "blood would be spilled". That statement was the signal for legends to be created, for villains to be exposed. It was the proclamation of the birth of One Punch Dodd.

While in his mind it was just light hearted banter, Clive's media shadow boxing obviously spooked the opposition because it was not a Docker who threw the first punch but an Eagle. A promising young Freo player by the name of Matt Pavlich was still quietly reflecting on the words of the National Anthem when he was set upon by a crazed Michael Gardiner. Medical staff rushed out to help Gardiner, thinking he was having some kind of fit as his arms flailed wilding around. Pavlich was lucky to escape with his life. Had he not stood perfectly still, one of the punches may have actually connected.

In true Fremantle professionalism they didn't retaliate but merely got on with the job of playing clean, honest football. They ran the ball out of the centre where Steven Koops marked it. Koopsy must have been rattled by the unprovoked attack on his team mate because he missed narrowly to the right, scoring a behind.

The Eagles took possession of the ball in the form of a kick in and chipped the ball down the boundary line. They made it as far as Fremantle's half back line before the ball was rebounded in the Dockers favour. As the ball came to a stop a packed formed. The courageous Fremantle captain, Shaun McManus, was then lynched by a pack of orange clad Eagles. Being the sort of man who commands great respect, when the players saw Macca under attack they rushed to his aid. Dale Kickett was the first to his side and he could see that there wasn't much time before Phillip Read would literally choke the life out of Macca. Drawing on his pre-first aid training he proceeded to clear the danger by forcefully removing Read. Using the techniques he'd picked up from a St John's Ambulance course, he delivered a right hook to Read's head, cleanly removing the obstruction to his captain's airways, saving his life.

Not a man to rest on his laurels, Kicketty then went about saving the lives of many of his other team mates until the umpires stepped in to bounce the ball and restart the game.

While all this action was taking place on the field, a young man by the name of Dodd was biding his time on the bench. The trauma of seeing his team mates being viciously attacked was swelling inside his head as he could do nothing but sit idly by and watch it unfold. His situation was made all the more distressing by pushes in the back, head high tackles and late bumps which were being consistently dished out by the West Coast players.

With the umpires seemingly unable, or perhaps unwilling, to protect the man with the ball, Dodd had had all he could stands. He picked up the telephone and told the coach he was going on. He ripped the first player to come within arms reach from the ground and strode onto the playing arena.

Angry as he was, once he ran out onto Subiaco Oval, Dodd cleared his head of any sense of vengeance. The football was his only target. He went about his business, picked up a few kicks, laid a few tackles and pulled in a mark. Then he saw it. Phillip Read, who earlier had tried to choke one of Fremantle's co-captains, had gone to work on the other captain - Adrian Fletcher. Read had given him a knee to the head, two fingers to the eyes, a clip across the head, a low blow to the Dennis Cometties and was now standing up to lay the boot into Fletcher.

Like Clint Eastwood in The Unforgiven, Dodd strode calmly up to Read. Read would have looked up just in time to see the upturned fist of Dodd's left jab coming towards him. The force of the punch knocked Read straight to the turf where he stayed for a few seconds before the fluid building in his brain sent him into a wild seizure. Just one punch from Brad Dodd had been enough to completely KO Phillip Read and thus One Punch Dodd was born.

The unhumanitarian nature of the tribunal and a devastating knee injury saw Dodd play just a handful more games before the fickle axe of football fell on his AFL career. But to this day, the mere mention of the name One Punch Dodd in the corridors of the Fremantle Football Club will bring broad smiles to the faces off all within earshot as the privately reminisce about the birth of a legend.