Apparently there is a footy team playing out of Sydney now. You may not have realised because they seem to travel to Fremantle slightly less often than Collingwood. No would mind that much except for three reasons - their grounds are ridiculous shapes, they keep beating the Dockers and the last time Fremantle were there, Heath Black got lost and ended up with his current haircut.

Fremantle have been to Sydney 7 times to play the last 9 matches between the two sides, including twice last year. Fremantle have had no trouble accounting for the Swans at Subiaco Oval but cracking the SCG has proved a tougher task. They haven't won their in over a decade with their last win being under Gerard Neesham in 1996 when Shaun McManus took on Paul Kelly and gave him a few pointers about the game of Aussie Rules.

There are some who like to suggest that Sydney's continuing run of home games is because of the Dockers dominance over them in the early years. Fremantle remained undefeated against the Swans for their first 5 matches and, as we all know, the AFL had a secret meeting in 1997 to come up with measures to stop the Fremantle juggernaut  from wiping out the rest of the competition.

Since then, Sydney have been beating the Dockers on a regular basis but it wasn't until round 12 2005 year that the Swans were finally able to level the ledger. The Dockers were struggling to field a side that week and were forced into the game with the likes of Dylan Smith, Daniel Gilmore, Jarrad Schofield, Luke Webster and Ryan Murphy. Despite letting the Swans get out to an early break, Freo had their chances to take the lead but some poor kicking let them down. It was the story of the day, with Freo able to match the Swans everywhere but the scoreboard. A burst of Sydney goals in the third term had Freo on the ropes and with half the team on the sidelines, there just weren't any punches left to fight their way back. Barry Hall and Michael O'Loughlin kicked 4 goals each. Jeff Farmer was Fremantle's only multiple goal scorer with two. Paul Williams had the ball 25 times for the Swans and Troy Cook 21 for Fremantle. Amon Buchanan, Tadhg Kennelly and Paul Williams picked up the 3-2-1 in the Brownlow medal and Troy Cook, Justin Longmuir and David Mundy scored a mention in the Clinton Wolf Medal. Leo Barry took 8 marks.

Last year the Dockers headed to Sydney twice. The first was you're average run of the mill mid-season game. After another rough midseason break, the Dockers headed east with a big task in front of them. A hard fought, tough, in tight match early saw the Dockers with their noses in front as they played the Swans at their own game and won, but with one half fit ruckman at their disposal, Fremantle found it too big an ask to run out the full 4 quarters and the Swans ran away with the game in the last quarter. Michael O'Loughlin had the most of the ball in a low possession game with 19 touches. Roger Hayden topped the ball getters for Fremantle with 16.Matty Pavlich and Nick Davis kicked 4 goals each. Clinton Wolf liked the look of Troy Cook, Pavlich and Shane Parker. Leo Barry took 6 marks.

Then came the finals. Fate had given the Dockers a worse draw than the even the AFL have been able to manage and, after a trip to South Australia in the first round, they headed to Sydney to try and win a spot in the Grand Final. It was tough going for the Dockers with Sydney playing their usual brand of flood ball, making the most of the Dockers unfamiliarity with the Olympic venue. Despite threatening in the third quarter, Fremantle couldn't manage to get Swans with Barry Hall having one of those days and Michael O'Loughlin avoiding choking for one week too many. Hall kicked 6 goals, O'Keefe and O'Loughlin 4 each. Matthew Pavlich topped the scoring for Fremantle with 4 goals and Peter Bell dobbed 3. Brett Kirk had 28 touches and Peter Bell 24. Sandilands took home the 3 votes in the Clinton Wolf Medal with Bell and Pavlich rounding out the placings.

Fremantle's last win over Sydney was in Round 17 2004 at Subiaco Oval. The Dockers brought out the champagne footy and used their match against the Swans as a football clinic to show all the young kiddies at the ground how to play the game. Precision skills, ferocious tackling, a bit of magic and just a touch of lairising proved to be a lethal combination as Freo ran rings around the Swans for a 27 point win. Jeff Farmer put his critics back in their boxes with a 5 goal haul, Jlo helped with 4 goal haul and Barry Hall kicked 3. Captain Kirk had 28 disposals, Peter Bell 27 and the Brownlow votes went to Dessy Headland, Brett Kirk and Jeff Farmer. Leo Barry took 3 marks.

Sydney have played 4 times at the SCG for 3 wins this season. Their last game their saw them lose to the Bombers by a point in Round 10. All up they've won 6 games for the season and lost 7. Last week they slogged it out in the marshes of Geelong, coming back from 8 goals down to lose by 3. Ryan O'Keefe topped scored with 2 of the Swans 10 goals while Brett Kirk and Adam Goodes cracked the 30 possession mark. They are currently in 10th spot on the ladder.

The Dockers had a huge win over Carlton on the weekend, Jeff Farmer returned to the game with 4 goals but Des Headland upstaged him with 5. Matthew Carr had an electrifying 26 disposals. That was Fremantle's 6th win for the season and has them two games off third spot.