Fremantle will cram themselves into a plane this weekend and head east, where they will cram themselves into a bus, cram themselves into a tiny dressing room and then try and figure out how to get 36 players, 9 umpires, 28 water boys and a few seagulls onto the postage stamp sized patch of grass the locals call the Sydney Cricket Ground. It’s a ground where Fremantle have had mixed fortunes. For a time Fremantle were unbeatable at the SCG as Gerard Neesham’s combination of swagger, good looks and an exciting game plan dazzled the locals and made it a Dockers paradise but, in what has become a tradition of over reaction at Fremantle, Damian Drum was brought in to cancel all three of those advantages out and the Swans dominated Fremantle for the next decade - until last year.
Many experts are predicting that it was the start of a new golden age for Fremantle (some suggest a blue and golden age but they mostly work in admin). It wasn’t just winning at the SCG for the first time since the mid-90’s, it was the complete humiliation of the Swans in front of their home supporters - all 8 of them. Despite half of Fremantle's defence missing the game with injuries or drug related mishaps, the Dockers looked like a side at full strength without a care in the world, dancing the ball out of the centre and making the goal umpire earn his pay with a combination of spectacular goals and almost brilliant points. The rain started pouring down in the last quarter to give the Swans some respite, Fremantle winning 9.9 (63) to 14.16 (100). David Mundy dominated with the ball, collecting 25 possessions while Nick Malceski picked up 28, mostly cheap, possessions for the Swans. The goals were shared around a bit, with Matthew Pavlich kicked 3 and Henry Playfair kicking 2. Controversy surrounded the Clinton Wolf Medal votes after Paul Hasleby was given the 3, Nat Fyfe the 2 and Antoni Grover the 1.
All credit to Sydney, they accepted their new place in the world with good grace and, rather than employ a futile effort to win back the SCG they decided they would just focus on winning elsewhere. It was unfortunate then that the AFL had slipped up and accidentally sent Sydney to Western Australia to play Fremantle - for just the second time in 7 years. Byron Schammer’s recall to the side suggested Fremantle were going to have a long afternoon. At half strength, kicking against the flow of umpiring for most of the match and with a ruck department cobbled together from a skinny kid and what appeared to be one of Marvin the Martian's goons, Fremantle nearly pulled off an impossible victory. The Swans did their best to try and bog the game down in their rugby hybrid style of football but Fremantle overcame their flooding, numerous times, in a game that saw the lead change more often than Lady GaGa's Cocker Spaniel. A brilliant snap from Byron Schammer and a miraculous goal by Nic Suban from the pocket saw Fremantle back the lead late in the last quarter but they were done in when they tried milking the clock too early, losing by 9 points. Greg Broughton had the most footy for Freo with 24 touches, Daniel Hannebery had 38 showy possessions for the Swans. Ben McGlynn kicked three of Sydney’s goal while a relatively unknown bloke named Hasel something kicked a couple for Fremantle. Broughton, Matt de Boer and Kepler Bradley were awarded the Clinton Wolf Medal Votes in controversial circumstances.
Fremantle have been to Sydney 10 times in the past 14 matches with one match at the Telstra Stadium and 9 at the SCG. They hadn’t won any of those games until last year.
There were a couple of occasions when Paul Roos mouthed off at the AFL over the off-season and found himself heading to Perth to play the Dockers - but not many.
Anzac Day, 2009 was one of those games and at the going down of the sun, Fremantle remembered how to play football. Kicking, hand balling, marking - all the skills were back after a slow start to the season as Fremantle ran rings around the highly fancied Sydney Swans. From the opening bounce, the Dockers looked on song, playing attacking, exciting footy and putting on 6 first quarter goals to all but shut the gate before the Swans supporters had time to order a latte. The Dockers went on to win 18.13 (121) to 16.4 (100) and set themselves up for their best form of the season, winning three games in a row.
Matthew Pavlich, Luke McPharlin and David Mundy kicked 3 goals each for Fremantle while the Swans had to scrounge their goals from Adam Goodes and 12 other blokes. Pavlich also had stacks of the footy and Jude picked up 28 possessions for Sydney. The umpires had no choice but to give the three Brownlow votes to Pavlich but they weaselled Brett Kirk in for the two and were kind enough to throw the 1 McPharlin's way. Even more controversially, the Clinton Wolf Medal voting committee gave their top votes to Roger Hayden, with Mundy getting the two votes and Matthew Pavliich scraping in for 1.
Sydney’s last win against Fremantle at the SCG was all the way back in 2008. It was an impressive effort by the AFL to completely alter the entire system of fixtures to make sure the Swans didn't have to leave home, with Fremantle and Sydney meeting for the first time that season...in Round 19. Fremantle played a good game of footy but, that late in the season, Fremantle's last quarter choke came as no surprise to supporters after the Dockers lead for most of the day but lost by 4 points 17.10 (112) to 15.18 (108).
Adam Goodes pretty much carried his entire team, kicking nearly half of Sydney's 17 goals. Kepler Bradley top scored for Fremantle with 3 goals to his name while 10 other players kicked at least 1. Matthew Pavlich had 27 touches for Freo while Jude Bolton had 30 for the Swans. Bolton, Goodes and Aaron Sandilands picked up the Brownlow votes while Michael Johnson, David Mundy and Kepler Bradley earned the honours in the Clinton Wolf Medal....in controversial circumstances.
Fremantle had the bye last weekend but it was the Swans who had an easy week, getting teed up again by the AFL, playing the Gold Coast after they’d just travelled to Perth and back. With the Gold Coast’s player getting injured, it was an easy afternoon of percentage building for the Swans that saw them get up by 70 points. In the weeks leading up to the Gold Coast debacle, they lost to Adelaide, Collingwood and Carlton. They’ve only won two games at the SCG this year and are currently sitting in 6th position.
Fremantle are also coming off a win against the Gold Coast but dropped a spot on the ladder while they were playing golf on the weekend. They had won 3 of their past 5 games going into the bye and another win on Sunday will seem them jump the Swans back into 6th spot on the ladder.