Fremantle look likely to be reaching the halfway point of their season this week, and what better way to enjoy it than a trip up to Queensland, where the sun shines, the bananas are plentiful and the people have no idea who the Fremantle Dockers are. It's a mixed blessing in that the Dockers will be able to arrive at the airport without local journalists pelting them with fruit for their own amusement but there is a downside, Fremantle have won more games this season than they've ever won at the Gabba.

With Fremantle making just 7 trips to the Gabba from 17 matches, you'd imagine that Queensland talkback radio callers have been going off about how Fremantle never have to travel and how Rick Hart controls the AFL. It's a record which measures up similarly with Collingwood heading over to Perth to play Fremantle except it involves twice as many plane trips.

But there's a good reason Fremantle don't go to Queensland very often - they get flogged there. You may be aware that Brisbane have shown some form in the past decade. They won a game or two, a Premiership or three and generally have been considered one of the greatest football teams in the history of the game. It's no surprise then that Fremantle have never beaten the Lions at home and have an average losing margin of around 10 goals.

Last year, Fremantle started better than usual. They took it up to the Lions in the first half, putting themselves in front during the second quarter but the Lions pulled away in the last quarter for a 45 point win. Matthew Pavlich and Chris Tarrant kicked their 3 goals each with Ashley McGrath being the designated 'day out' player, kicking 5. Simon Black and Luke Power had a lot of the ball for Brisbane while Heath Black and Peter bell carried the most of the ball for the Dockers.

A year earlier Fremantle headed north keen to rebuild some of their tarnished reputation amongst the red necked locals, with the Lions having won only one game at home for the season and resembling just a shadow of their former selves. Unfortunately no one told Brisbane that. Fremantle's midfield were little more than a couple of turnstiles and a revolving door to the Brisbane players as the triple champions gave one last gasp of brilliance. The Lions smashed Freo in the centre in the first quarter, kicking 7 goals straight to make a long day of it. It was a tight tussle for much of the rest of game but the Dockers needed a lot more than a tussle. Brisbane finished like they started to have the Dockers pants down by end of the day to the tune of 68 points.

Jonathan Brown kicked 7 of Brisbane's 21 goals. The best Fremantle could come up with in reply was a string of 2 goals games including Matthew Pavlich and Heath Black. Peter Bell went stat for stat with Simon Black, getting rid of the ball 27 times. Brown picked up the top Brownlow votes, Black was given the 2 and Justin Sherman the conciliation vote. Clinton Wolf liked the work of Peter Bell, Paul Medhurst and Shane Parker.

Despite some absolute shellackings like that one, the Dockers haven't been totally outclassed in Brisbane. In their first match there they lost by a point (which Quenton Leach paid them back for a year later with a goal after the siren win at Subiaco) then in 2001 they were headed for an unlikely win before Brisbane put on 13 goals in a row in a last quarter that completely broke the Dockers and saw them lose every game for the next 3 months.

Fremantle have only beaten the Lions 6 times from the 17 attempts. Their last win against them was in 2004 at Subiaco Oval. After back to back shockers in the weeks leading up to the game, Fremantle ran rings around the reigning Premiers with a 10 goal win and an all round pantsing. Paul Medhurst kicked a statistically anomalous 9 goals and Jeff Farmer a casual 3. Martin Pike kicked one goal less than he has premiership medallions. Paul Hasleby had 31 touches, as did Jason Akermanis. The umpires gave Paul Medhurst the top votes, Paul Hasleby the 2 and, despite his team getting flogged, Jason Akermanis the 1.

Brisbane haven't left Queensland since mid-May, with two big wins in the past couple of weeks. Last week they beat North Melbourne, scared that they'd never make it out of Queensland themselves, by 5 goals. A week earlier they knocked off St Kilda by 46 points. Jonathon Brown kicked 6 goals in both game and, obviously, Simon Black has had a lot of the football. They are currently sitting in 7th spot on the ladder.

Fremantle aren't going quite as well. You may have heard they just beat the record for the most number of times being in front at three quarter time without winning. They are currently 5 games outside the eight.