Fremantle go face to face this week with the side that many experts have credited with knocking them out of the finals...in Round 4. In a post Derby showdown that the Dockers expected to romp home in, Richmond arrived in WA free of the pressures of Melbourne and played what many experts have called their best game of the season. Broken hearted and under constant attacks from Victorian media types, upset that they no longer had Richmond to bash, Fremantle went on to lose their next 7 matches, each in more devastating circumstances than the last.

Perhaps over estimating the ability of their opponents the week before, Fremantle were ambushed by a quick and skilful Richmond side who ran the Dockers ragged and smashed them all over the ground. After three years and three weeks of tanking, the sleeping giants of the east had suddenly awoken and shook the Dockers about for 2 hours, kicking goals at will, picking up possessions at will and making a mockery of Fremantle's decision not to play a defence. But for a short period in the second quarter, the Dockers spent most of the day with their pants around their ankles, finishing the afternoon 64 points down.

Former Docker Peter Bell had 25 possessions, equal to Matthew Richardson but nowhere near Kane Johnson or Jordan McMahon in the mid thirties. Matthew Richardson also managed 4 goals while Pav could only muster 3.

When the Tigers were in town last year, Fremantle supporters headed to Subi Oval to see the football equivalent of a seal clubbing expedition. Unfortunately some of the seals brought clubs of their own, putting up a bit of a fight and holding the lead at half time. But the Dockers hit their stride in the second half, closed the gap and finished off by giving them a good bludgeoning. Not quite a death blow but they certainly had a nasty headache in the morning.

Peter Bell racked up 38 touches and kicked a couple of goals in the process but it was Des Headland who stole the show, kicking 5 goals and earning himself the 3 Brownlow votes. Pav chipped in with 3 goals and 3 behinds and shared the votes with Headland and Bell.

Nathan Foley got the closest to Peter Bell in the Richmond camp, with 29 touches while Pettifer and Tambling kicked 3 goals each. Matthew Richardson kicked 2.2.

A year earlier when Richmond were in Perth once again, they were right up where they belong - 9th spot. They had high hopes of breaking the black and yellow ceiling and moving into the top 8 but were once again disappointed with Fremantle winning by a less than convincing 11 points. Despite losing Peter Bell early in the first quarter and Terry Wallace's continuing efforts to ruin football, Freo fought their way through the Richmond floodle to win the game. It was a tough, hard fought, hard thought game, with the Tigers putting numbers around the ball. Brett Peake was a ball magnet with 24 touches, 5 bounces and 3 Brownlow votes. Mark Coughlan got a lot of the ball for the Tigers with 35 disposals but just the one bounce. Pavlich kicked 3 goals straight, Des headland and Brett Peake kicked 2 each. For the Tigers, Chris Hyde kicked 2. Despite the Dockers win, the conciliation Brownlow votes went the way of two Richmond players, Shane Tuck and Joel Bowden.

Back in Melbourne, Richmond's knocked off the Dockers at the MCG in 2005. After a slow start, the Dockers travelled to Melbourne to try and convert some good form into 4 points but instead they were given a paddling. Fremantle started the game shorthanded after sending three players to bed with a 'virus' before the game. It didn't take long before there were suspicions that they'd sent the wrong three players. After looking out of touch in the first half, the Dockers descended into a complete rabble in the second half, at times giving rabbles a bad name. A 6-0 goal third quarter saw the game over well before the final siren and Fremantle shellacked by 48 points. Matthew Richardson kicked 6 goals and Nathan Brown had 34 touches and took 13 marks, Fremantle's best ball getter was Heath Black with 34 disposals and it trailed off after that.

Despite Fremantle's run of form at the MCG in recent years, they've struggled to beat the Tigers there. Their only win came in Round 12, 2004. Richmond gave Freo a bath in the first half, getting out to a 38 point lead in the second quarter before the Dockers started to fire up. They pegged the Tigers back in the third quarter with a run of 4 goals before the flood gates opened in the last and the Dockers put on 5 goals straight to run away with a much needed 10 point victory. Des Headland put through 3 goals and Paul Hasleby had a stack of the ball while Matthew Richardson kicked his standard 5 and Wayne Campbell handled the ball 41 times. He also had a lot of kicks and handpasses.

Last week Richmond knocked off a rapidly fading Hawthorn side by 5 goals that saw Joel Bowden pick up 38 possessions and 12 blokes kick goals. The win came after a couple of losses and pushed them up to 10th spot on the ladder, half a game and percentage shy of their goal of finishing 9th and restoring their place in the football landscape.

Fremantle didn't go quite so well against St Kilda, where they knocked off at half time to get systematically flogged for the rest of the day. That was the Dockers second loss in a row after narrowly going down to the Swans at the SCG a week earlier. Fremantle are 6 wins out of the 8 so will need to work hard with just 2 games remaining.