Hold onto your individually numbered hats, Fremantle's longest bunny streak of all time is set to continue this week, with the Dockers lining up for their 9th straight victory over the Blues. Carlton haven't beaten Fremantle since the dreaded 2001 season which saw Fremantle lose to everyone, but since Chris Connolly took the reins Fremantle have a 100% winning record over the once mighty Blues.

When the Dockers entered the AFL, Carlton were the team feared by everyone in the competition. They were running riot through the record books, beating everyone and everything that put on a pair of boots and a woolen vest. Of course, no one told Fremantle about this and when the Dockers invited Carlton back to Subi Oval in April of 1996, Freo ended a winning streak that stretched back 18 games, including a Grand Final victory.

Carlton spent the next 5 years taking their revenge on the Dockers, winning 7 of the next 8 games - but since 2002 it's been all Fremantle.

Last year Fremantle were given the luxury of playing Carlton twice. In Round 2 they notched up consecutive win number 7, getting off to a flyer at Subi Oval, lead by a fired up Shaun McManus and an angry Josh Carr. The game was all over by half time with the Dockers getting out to a 42 point lead. Unfortunately they loosened their grip in the second half but cruised in for a 15 point win -15.11 (101) to 13.8 (86). Jeff Farmer and Luke McPharlin kicked 3 goals each for Fremantle, Crazy Joe Fevola kicked 6 for Carlton. The top ball getters were Peter Bell (32), Josh Carr (29), Shaun McManus (29), Ryan Crowley (28) and then Ryan Houlian for the Blues with 28 touches. The Clinton Wolf Medal committee liked the game of Shaun McManus and gave him 3 votes, Jeff Farmer picked up the 2 and Josh Carr got the 1. For some reason the only Docker the umpires were interested in was Shaun McManus, with Adam Bentick and Eddie Betts picking up the minor votes.

A few weeks later, in Round 17, Fremantle were starting to get on a bit of a roll. They headed east to play Carlton at the Telstra Dome. The Dockers took a while to adjust to the ice rink like conditions of Telstra Dome but hit their stride after half time, shutting the gate by three quarter time with a 45 point margin then cruising in for an 18 point win with an eye to the finals. Ryan Murphy and Crazy Joe Fevola both kicked 5 straight goals. Jeff Farmer and Matthew Pavlich could have joined the club but kicked 2.3 each. Peter Bell was the top ball getter for Fremantle with 23 possessions with 5 Carlton players surpassing him. Heath Scotland had the most of it with 31. Once again the umpires found room for Carlton in their votes with Ryan Murphy, Andrew Walker and Matthew Pavlich getting the 3-2-1.

Those wins paled into insignificance compared to the one a year earlier. Round 16, 2005. Shane Parker couldn't have asked for a better 200th game. In typical Parker style, it was all flash and lairising from the Freo players with some champagne footy after a long midseason break and a heartbreaking trip to Adelaide. Eight goals in the first quarter, seven in the second, twenty four for the match, nine to Matthew Pavlich, four to Crowley and even one mad dash from Parker out of defense to slot one through himself. It was one big party and everyone was invited. On top of Pavlich's 9 goals, Josh Carr had 32 possessions and Ryan Crowley slotted through 4 goals. The best for the Blues was Kouta with 29 touches with Kade Simpson and Bradley Fisher kicking 3 goals each. The umpires gave Pavlich the top votes but the Clinton Wolf Medal voting committee controversially passed him up for Shane Parker.

This week it's back to Subiaco Oval (assuming they've been able to dry out the ground with all the tears from Sunday afternoon). Carlton's last win at Subiaco was in Round 1 2001 when they beat the Dockers by a point after trailing by 32 at half time. Since then they have played 10 times at Subiaco and lost 10 times, with an average losing margin of just under 8 goals. The played the mob up the road at Subi in Round 4 and lost by 61 points after kicking just 4 goals for the entire game.

So far this season the Blues are having a bit of a dream run by their standards. They've passed their 2006 effort already by winning 4 games with two recent wins breaking their 6 game losing streak. Before the week off they lost to Hawthorn by 100 points with Fevola kicking 3 goals and Andrew Carrazzo getting rid of the ball 30 times. They are currently sitting 14th on the ladder.

Fremantle are also coming off a loss, not quite a 100 points but a few of the players did have their pants pulled down over the course of the trip to Darwin. The Bulldogs beat them by 26 points after a tight tussle. Matthew Pavlich kicked 3 goals and Peter Bell had a stack of the ball. They've won 5 games for the season and are currently 2 wins from 5th spot.