Doctors have been encouraged by a recent study this week which suggests cases of Derbynesia are at an all time low this year. With 6 straight Derby wins to Fremantle, one or two people around Perth have actually been able to remember the odd derby result. It’s a big breakthrough after years of ignoring the fact that the Dockers are on track to equal the once lopsided Derby record by 2012 - just as the Mayans predicted. Unfortunately some have been self medicating to avoid catching the dreaded Derbynesia (which renders the victim unable to recall any matches between the Fremantle Dockers and the West Coast Eagles since 2002) with hallucinogenic psychotropics which has them predicting that, despite sitting square on the bottom of the ladder, this year is their chance to turn the tables on the flag bound Fremantle.

It was a similar story last Derby, with desperate Eagles supporters turning the humble Derby that they’d pretended not to care about for so long, into a mini Grand Final for them. It was Round 6 and their season was already over. The official members decree was issued and they all fell into line with the argument that the team expected to lose always wins the Derby. Wrong again.

Freo won by a lazy 38 points, Michael Barlow romped in to win the Rosco, Pav kicked a lazy five and Aaron Sandilands is still waiting for the challenge from the supposed best ruck competition ever assembled. Everything went to the derby script - Eagles throw everything they have at the Dockers - it barely does anything on the scoreboard - Fremantle storm home in the second half - West Coast supporters vanish into thin air.  Barlow only needed 25 possesions to mark his mark while Brad Ebert racked up 28 for the Eagles.  Pav kicked his 5 and Michael Johnson dobbed 3. Kennedy kicked 3 for West Coast and LeCras 2. There were barely any controversial circumstances in the Clinton Wolf Medal voting, with Barlow picking up the 3, Johnson the 2 and Paul Duffield the 1.

The win was Fremantle's sixth derby straight (not including the off-season paddlings). Six wins in a row, 8 of the past 9, Mark Harvey's perfect record over John Worsfold, an 11-6 record in the modern era and the rapidly approaching deadline where Fremantle will catch the Eagles for total derby wins - Round 18, 2012 at the current rate.

Standing in the way of that deadline is the issue that, after the last Derby, the AFL have been sending out signals to the Eagles that they may only fixture one Derby in the future if they can't start making a contest of it.

In Round 17 last year, for the 7th time in 4 years, Fremantle wiped the floor with their feathered neighbours. Despite West Coast fielding nearly half their premiership side, the depleted Dockers lead for most of the day. A couple of suspicious free kicks kept the Eagles in the game at half time and the umpires made sure it stayed close for much of the second half. But the brilliance of Matthew Pavlich and the silky skills of Tim Ruffles saw the Dockers storm home in the last quarter to win by a comfortable 5 points. Aaron Sandilands was given the Rosco Medal so, unfortunately, three Fremantle players had to miss the following match after injuring themselves trying to carry him from the ground.

Matthew Pavlich had 36 possessions,  Aaron Sanidlands had 30 and Adam Selwood had 28 (but getting most of his kicks giving high fives to the little league players at half time). Tim Ruffles and Jay van Berlo kicked a couple of goals each for Fremantle and the Eagles forward, Mark LeCras,  kicked the most goals for his 'team'. Sandilands, Pavlich and Ruffles won the Clinton Wolf Medal votes in surprisingly uncontroversial circumstances while the Brownlow votes were handed out to Sandilands and Pavlich with a token vote going to Matthew Priddis. Nick Naitanui had 2 kicks.

While that Derby was more of a routine win for Freo, the first derby of 2009 was a beauty. It had all the classic derby moments - the ridiculously biased umpiring, Eagles supporters booing randomly selected players, the Dockers giving the West Coast players a sniff and then the humiliation as they ran over the top of them in the second half before sending them from the ground in disgrace. Paul Hasleby won another Rosco Medal, Stephen Hill was nominated for the Rising Star and Ryan Crowley scored another pair of Daniel Kerr's pants to mount on his wall. Paul Hasleby had 35 touches, Paul Duffield had 34 The best the Eagles could produce was Matthew Priddis who managed 26 disposals. Fremantle shared things around in front of goals with 10 goal scorers. Sandilands, Thornton and Hill got a bit greedy and kicked 2 each. Mark LeCras kicked 2 for the other mob. Hasleby, Duffield and Byron Schammer picked up the Clinton Wolf Medal Votes in controversial circumstances. Chris Judd, Ben Cousins and Nick Naitanui picked up the Basil Zempilas Medal votes.

That wasn't the only Derby of the year though. Over the summer, the Eagles had another crack at the Dockers. The West Coast Eagles called on all their resources - public relations campaigning, media manipulation, a huge, sheep like supporter base and a complete lack of shame to cobble together a scratch match against the Dockers to bask in the goodwill surrounding the Bushfire tragedy and pick the pockets of West Australians so they could give it to the sort of Victorian junior football clubs that have provided us with the likes of Adam Selwood, Chris Judd, Jeff White, and Robbie Warnock. Unfortunately for them, footballing ability wasn't one of the tools at their disposals. Half the Dockers players rocked up late, wearing thongs and board shorts while the other half sat behind the goals to heckle Lynch. The players who made it onto the ground toyed with the chumps up the road for most of the afternoon, letting their fans flow with the sort of arrogance that can only be appreciated in a scratch match in early March, before drilling half a dozen quick goals to steal their match in the dying seconds 17.9 (111) to 16.10 (106) and continue Fremantle's vice like grip on all things Derby.

They weren't quite so generous in the home and away season a few months earlier. Most of Fremantle turned up to watch the Dockers send off Shaun McManus, unfortunately their opposition didn't bother. In one of the most one sided of all the one sided derbies of the modern era, the Eagles were flogged all over the ground in what surely must have had alarm bells ringing at the AFL, vis-à-vis the Eagles license. On one leg, Matthew Pavlich kicked 4 goals and won a Ross Glendenning Medal, Luke McPharlin booted 5 devastating goals and Shaun McManus was given a send off befitting his years of service, and gallons of blood he'd bled for the club.

Fremantle had nine goals on the board in the first quarter and were forced to play much of the second quarter in a haze of smoke as the Range Rover brigade headed home. Mark LeCras was the only Eagle who could manage to have any impact for the Eagles, with 4 goals (highly suspicious though they were). Byron Schammer, Michael Johnson and Josh Carr had the most of the footy for Fremantle while the Eagles had to rely on their ruckman and a bloke who can no longer prove he played in a premiership.

In Round 3 that year, Fremantle smashed them as well. As always, the Eagles were quite keen on themselves going into the match. Peter Sumich was demanding more respect, John Worsfold shouting out rude words from under Peter's apron and their supporters were carrying on like they didn't support a side that had just lost one captain to drugs and another to tainted money. In the end it was a bit of an anti-climax, with the much hyped Eagles falling flat on their well worn noses.

In shocking conditions thanks to a pre-match flood and some no-necked thugs renting the ground the night before, it wasn't always a pretty affair but Fremantle's class was evident from siren to siren. Matthew Pavlich shone at full forward, with three goals in a row to wrestle control of the game then took a screamer in the goal square in the last quarter to settle his troops and guide them home to a 14 point victory. Pav kicked 5 for the day and McKinley 3 for the other mob. Daniel Kerr had a lot of the ball, as did David Mundy for Freo.

In 2007, the Dockers kicked a staggering 19 goals to beat the Eagles in what was supposed to be a one sided contest the other way. Entering the match, West Coast were touted as having a full strength side that were on track to win back to back flags. Unfortunately for them, they soon had a nasty run in with reality as a fired up and focused Fremantle side run them ragged and gave them a lesson in pressure football.

Lacking discipline and any semblance of structure, the Eagles played like a side that believed their own media department, as Josh Carr lead from the front, playing hard passionate football. Jeff Farmer and Josh Carr kicked 3 goals each while Mark LeCras was aided to 4 goals by the umpires. Paul Hasleby had the most of the footy for Fremantle and Daniel Kerr for the Eagles but it was Josh Carr who took home all the accolades and shiny trinkets with 26 disposals, 3 goals and an unprecedented number of niggles

Crippled by injury and a prejudiced tribunal, Freo went into the first derby that same year severely undermanned but still confident of continuing their unprecedented string of victories against the Eagles. Unfortunately, they hadn't counted on even more suspicious umpiring than all the previously suspiciously umpired derby's and were pipped at the line, leaving them to start their run of wins all over again in Round 18.

It was a tough result for Fremantle fans who hadn't had to deal with losing to the drug addled mob from up the road for quite some time. The Dockers beat the Eagles everywhere except the scoreboard and the free kick count, as their hard tackling went unrewarded, their forwards were left to the mercy of the Eagles unholy whims and the West Coast forwards spent so much time falling over it looked like a scene from a Charlie Chaplin film. Matthew Pavlich still managed to get two goals and Josh Carr put through a couple of his own. Steven Armstrong jagged 3 for the other mob. As well as risking the license of a major television station, Michael Braun had the most of the ball for the day and therefore was given the Rosco medal by the panel of very astute judges (just not very astute football judges). Paul Hasleby had the most of the ball for Fremantle with 20 kicks and three or four handballs for good measure. Shaun McManus, Josh Carr and Roger Hayden picked up the 3-2-1 in the Clinton Wolf Medal.

That was the Eagles only win in the past 9 matches.

This time around they are quite excited about their chances though and why wouldn’t they be. Last week they beat, oh, sorry, last week they lost to Carlton by 26 points with youngster Andrew Embley getting the most of the footy and Mark LeCras kicking 3 goals - or half a dozen by his summation. A week earlier they had their first win in two months, with each of their losses leading up to it more plucky than the last. They haven’t won at Subiaco Oval since Round 7. They are currently on the bottom of the ladder.

Fremantle caught some bad luck on the weekend when the undermanned Dockers struggled to cope with what has since been called an unsafe surface, so were given a bit of a touch up by the Western Bulldogs. Pavlich still managed 4 goals and Nic Suban picked up a lot of the footy. Fremantle have won 11 matches this season and are sitting in equal 4th spot on the ladder.