Fremantle v Bulldogs Like a long haired Sampson returning to tackle the Philistines, Fremantle arrived at Subiaco Oval prepared to conquer their old demons. Just like in the August of 1997, all that stood between Fremantle and a spot in the finals was a ragtag bunch of footballers who's inability to even put together a handful of wins for the season had them sitting at the bottom o the ladder. Would they fail again this time and have to find a win in one of their two remaining games, on the road, facing hostile opposition supporters (not to mention the hostile supporters of their own in the car park after the game) or would they continue their unbeaten record against visiting teams at Subi and create history. You couldn't have asked for a better day to make history. Subiaco was baked in winter sunshine, a far cry from the gloomy western suburbs of Victoria and perfect for the skilful young Dockers. It took a while for both teams to get their bearings, the leather Sherrins, designed for Melbourne mud not Perth sunshine, were bouncing in most unusual ways. The Dockers had a couple of early pings at goals but could only bring up minor scores. This gave the Doggies a couple of chances to get possession of the ball and they were able to get it inside fifty. As you'd expect, Fremantle repelled the attack and Robbie Haddrill gave the ball off to James Walker to run it out of defence. With the marketing department running amok, it'd been a strange couple of weeks on field for Fremantle and Jimmy must have been confused as to which jumpers they were wearing this week. He put it straight down the throat of the Bulldogs Wayde Skipper who said thankyou very much and kicked himself a goal. The Dockers were losing - and they didn't like it. They were stung into action and the goals started to flow. Troy Cook's golden boot was the first to produce the goods with a tidy snap from 35 metres out splitting the middle. Some crazy Shaun McManus running out of the centre found Matthew Pavlich just outside fifty. Pav hit the turbo boost button, outclassed everyone within a 40 metre radius and unloaded to the top of the goal square (that's the story he's telling anyway). Waiting in the square was Paul Hasleby who got the sit on some poor Bulldogs stooge and brought down a screamer. From a metre and a half out he wanted a gimme but the AFL rules said he had to have the kick (specifically speaking, what is known as the Troy Wilson rule). He did, and he produced the Dockers second. They followed that one up with some magic running from Des Headland. Looking all the world like he was playing in a Brisbane Premiership side, at top pace Des casually ran from the inside the centre square to inside the fifty metre arch and slotted through a goal. It takes a genius to make it look that easy. If that wasn't enough to have you humming Waikiki's 'Here Comes September', when Shaun McManus crumbed a spoiled Croad mark at full pace and then snapped a goal like a bloke who can actually kick, you'd be straight on the internet to download an illegal copy and burn it on a cd for your mates. But with all the excitement, someone in the crowd forgot the team rule - don't interact with Nathan Brown. A couple of fingers had gone up in the air in the directions of Brown and his eyes lit up as the angry juices flowed through his body. The first chance he got he took a grab in front of Shane Parker, went back and drilled the goal. Luckily Trent Croad was prepared to dig in and square up (on the scoreboard not in a Jess Sinclair, is this a freckle or a mole on my elbow, kind of way) before quarter time. Freo went into the break with a 23 point lead including a very impressive 4 behinds from Justin Longmuir who was obviously impressed with all the attention Des Headland received for kicking a point the week before against the Kangaroos, and wanted a piece of the action. The second quarter started as the first had, with a goal to the other mob. The problem this time was that there was no reply from Fremantle. Nathan Brown had felt a twinge in his hamstring which inspired him to kick his second goal. All of a sudden they were within a couple of kicks of the lead. Some physics defying kicking from Paul Medhurst slowed the Bulldogs down for a few minutes but there was no stopping them, they were on the charge. Brad Johnson was the next to enter the scorebook with a goal on the run from 40 metres out which brought an eerie silence over the Subiaco Oval crowd. A bit of class was needed from Fremantle and they produced with the "much maligned" goal of the year. James Walker saved an errant Dion Woods kick from the outstretched arms of the boundary umpire before setting the wheels in motion. He hugged the boundary line and got the ball down to Shane Parker, Parker picked out Matty Carr on the run who dished off a handpass to the streak of blonde hair that was headed towards the goals. McManus threw the ball on his boot and kicked what must have been an eighty metre drop punt to the forward line. The sheer power on the kick clean bowled the pack of players waiting it's arrival but Jeff Farmer was lurking at the back of the pack where he picked up the ball, booted it through he goals and then went very close to celebrating with the Willsy aeroplane. While the "much maligned" players worked hard down the southern wing, the northern wing was reserved for the never maligned players to do their stuff. Des Headland lured in a pack of Bulldogs at half back before looping a handpass over the top to Matty Pavlich. Pavlich had a paddock to run into and he used every hectare of it. Disappointed that there were no tiny midfielders in his path to crush, the only option he was left with was to kick a goal. He bombed it from 65m out, the ball was struggling but a shepherd of the year contender from Trent Croad helped pick up the slack and get the Dockers back out to a 23 point lead. His less inspiring mark and kick from 35 metres out had a similar effect on the scoreboard and the Dockers stretched their lead out to 31 points with a bit of clever Medhurst action taking it out to 37 as half time approached. They had weathered the storm and with results from around the country coming in, it was time to get out the abacus and start calculating percentage permutations. A 200 point win and Freo moved into second place. But the Bulldogs weren't getting into the spirit of things and late in time on they put through a couple of percentage damaging goals, including a beauty from Brad Johnson in the pocket that required the help of his proctologist. Like an excited dog with his plumbing intact, the Bulldogs weren't doing in damage but the Dockers just couldn't shake them. When the time keeper finally got off his stool to blow the siren the margin was back to 28 points and the 12 behinds that Fremantle had kicked weren't helping the situation. It seemed everyone wanted to be Des. The third quarter seemed a bit laboured, like the last day of school or the days between Christmas and New Year. Medhurst continued to play smarter than The Colonel in a pair of Italian loafers, Pavlich was being eyed off by Stephen van der Mye as a solution to Perth's power crisis, someone finally saw Croad leading and kicked the ball to him and the Bulldogs had an answer for everything. It was all quite a bore. At least they were able to cut the behinds down to just 5 for the quarter though. Now we Fremantle supporters have become used to certain standards when we go to the footy. With close games, massive shellackings and crazy outfits becoming standard operating procedure lately, a quarter in the traditional Fremantle strip and a steady as she goes, 30 point margin at the end of the third quarter it wasn't good enough. Chris Connolly was well aware of this and he tore strips off his players. "You either let them catch up, you pull their pants down or you pull your own down and get into some rainbow coloured culottes" was the gist of his three quarter time address. He's done some smart things in his time Chris Connolly but this wasn't one of them.. Far from either of the pant pulling down scenarios that we'd hoped for, the Dockers went for the close game option. In the opening 30 seconds of the final term Nathan Brown snapped a goal to get the Doggies 6 points closer. A couple of minutes later they had another to get it within 19 points. Fremantle put the clamps on the Bulldogs but were missing so many shots on goal you had to wonder whether they'd forgotten they were finals bound and were playing for draft picks. Jlo brought up his 7th for the day to get the margin back out to 22 points. Croad lined up for goals from 50 metres out, on the boundary line. He ignored the lead from Jlo - he could kick a point himself. He'll tell you that instead he decided to put it to the top of the square. As a pack of players formed under the ball it looked like a big punch from a nervous defender would see another behind registered but then from nowhere came The Wiz. He rode the pack, pulled down a screamer and then had the cheek to play on, dodge a couple of stray Bulldogs and snap the match sealing goal. The Dockers were headed for their debut finals appearance but Jeff Farmer was headed for the nearest player he could find to celebrate with. With the finals locked way, the Bulldogs finally laid down and the madness started. Goals started flowing and the margin grew but the goals were matched with a steady flow of behinds. Pretty soon it became obvious what they were up to. With Clive Waterhouse out of action for the rest of the year they were paying homage to him in the best way possible - by kicking 26 behinds. Farmer got in on the action with a couple of points, Medhurst did his part and Headland chimed in too. Roger Hayden had a perfect opportunity to put one through but instead went for the glory and kicked it straight between the big sticks for his first goal in AFL football. As players ran from everywhere to give the back pocket a pat on the back (or a manly grope in Troy Longmuir's case) Shane Parker stood down the other end shaking his head. Chris Connolly's response was to rip Hayden off the ground immediately for spoiling Clive's tribute. With 25 points on the board and time running out, it looked like the entire days work was going to be for nothing. The Wiz copped one in the back with 5 seconds to go, he looked up but could only see greedy forwards hungry for a major. Then he had an idea. He gave a wink to the crowd and the siren sounded. He was on the boundary line, 65 metres out from goals and there was only one way to end this celebration of Clive. He went back, sized up the kick and produced an absolute mongrel off the side of his boot and out of bounds on the full. An almost perfect way to end the day and launch the Dockers into the finals.
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