Geelong haven't been kind to the Dockers over the years. Sure, they gave up Andrew Wills and Stephen O'Reilly in exchange for some magic beans at the end of 1994 and gave Fremantle their first win in WA but since then, it's been a fairly one sided relationship. Freo have had six wins from sixteen matches against the Cats and three of those came while Geelong were doing what modern day coaches like to call rebuilding. The last five games between the two sides have gone Geelong's way but the last time the Dockers beat them, Geelong were sitting second on the ladder, Fremantle were given no chance and the bookies were offering odds in the range of a meal at Subiaco Oval.

A year before that historic win, Fremantle had headed to Geelong in good faith for a game of gentlemanly football at the local sporting facility. After a long plane flight, a bus trip and a horse drawn buggy ride to the ground, the Dockers were greeted by pouring rain and a giant mud puddle. They handled the conditions well early, applying an ironic flood and keeping Geelong to a handful of points. Without umpire interference could have been in front at quarter time but in the second half it all went wrong. Geelong kicked 6 goals and 10 behinds to Fremantle's 5 points. Fremantle lost by 50 points. The three goals were kicked by Medhurst, Bell and Jeff Farmer - who came down with hypothermia for his troubles. McCarthy, Johnson and Riccardi kicked a couple each for Geelong. Peter Bell had 20 touches, Justin Longmuir 19 and for the Cats it was Gary Ablett's kid and Jimmy Bartel doing the damage with 27 touches each. Bartel, Johnson and Milburn picked up the umpires' votes.

Fremantle learnt their lesson from that match and, when they returned to the ground a year later, Round 10 2005, the Dockers beat Geelong at Skilled Stadium for the first time ever. Most of the world had written Freo off after a humiliating loss to the Hawks at home a week earlier but they came out with all guns blazing against the Cats. They tackled and ran like their lives depended on it. They hit hard and they didn't give the Cats an inch. They got the jump on Geelong early and didn't let up, diving to the line with a 9 point lead and a lot more respect. Jeff Farmer kicked 4 goals and Peter Bell had 29 disposals. For the Cats, Paul Chapman and Kent Kingsley were the only multiple goal scorers. Gary Ablett's kid topped the possessions with just 19 after Troy Cook through a blanket over him for most of the day. Paul Hasleby, Jeff Farmer and Jimmy Bartell picked up the Brownlow votes.

Important lessons were also learnt last year. As they will this week, Fremantle hosted Geelong at Subiaco Oval. No one gave the Dockers a chance of getting within a Sandilands arm span of the Cats. They were wrong. Courageous, audacious, defiant and tough, Fremantle looked the reigning premiership side square in the eyes and refused to blink. Geelong didn't know what had hit them in the opening quarter when Fremantle denied them any ground, putting through what would have been a match winning lead against most sides. The Cats fought back though and finally pried the lead from the Dockers in the last quarter. With time and the umpires against them, Fremantle were up against it but they refused to give in. Against the biblical style flooding, they picked out Pavlich twice. The first straight through the middle, the second...straight into the post leaving Fremantle 1 point shy of the Cats when the final siren sounded a half a minute early. Michael Johnson and Garrick Ibbotson ran amok with the ball for Freo while Joel Corey had 35 touches for the Cats. Pavlich kicked 5 goals and Jimmy Bartel kicked 3. Sandilands, Thornton and Pavlich picked up the Clinton Wolf Medal votes.

While many things were learnt form that game, the Dockers struggled to them for any great purpose when they were sent back to Geelong later that year. The Dockers' season had been long over, half the club were in for operations, the Geelong weather was once again brutal and the Cats had revenge in mind. From the moment they stepped onto the ground, Geelong went straight for the man - technically for the boy. They picked out the youngest and the weakest and they belted them. The umpires were only prepared to pick up a fraction of the infractions but still managed to find 17 free kicks in the first quarter. Through it all, the Cats whinged, they sooked, they threw their fists about and they fell over in disbelief as Fremantle dared to play them tightly and dried up what the locals expected to be an early flood of goals. But hard work and dedication can only match ability for so long as the Dockers struggled to find their feet on the Cats home ground. The third quarter sealed Freo's fate as the score blew out for a nasty loss (18.10) 118 to 6.8 (44). Corey Enright, Joel Corey, Joel Selwood and Jimmy Bartel all had over 30 touches while Rhys Palmer managed 22 for the Dockers and Dean Solomon had one particularly impressive touch on Cameron Ling's horrible, horrible face. Chris Tarrant kicked 3 goals and Tom Lonergan kicked 4.

Fremantle's last win over the Cats at home was in Round 5, 2004. The Cats travelled west to keep 35,000 Dockers entertained by losing for the entire afternoon. The Dockers were away early and looked like they were going to run all over Geelong but every time Fremantle seemed to have finished them off, Geelong fought back. They got close in the last quarter but Freo had left something extra in the tank and put them back in the bag in time on for a 26 point win - 18.9 (117) to 14.7(91). Troy Simmonds was the star in front of goals with 5 big ones. Byron Schammer and Jeff Farmer weren't too shabby either with 3 each. Riccardi kicked 3 for Geelong. Matthew Pavlich had a fair bit of the ball with 30 disposals and Byron Schammer had 26. Geelong's top ball getters were Moloney and Mooney with 25 each. Luke Mcpharlin, Byron Schammer and Troy Simmonds picked up the Clinton Wolf Medal votes.

Geelong had a rest last week after a reasonable start to the season. Before the break they looked shaky, travelling to Perth and being pushed to the brink of defeat by the lowly West Coast Eagles. It was an embarrassing 22 point win for the Cats. Tom Hawkins kicked 3 goals and Gary Ablett's kid had 43 cheap possessions. That was their 11th win for the season, giving them 11 wins in a row since their humiliating loss to Hawthorn at the end of last season. They are currently in second place on the ladder.

Fremantle too are coming off a rest. It was a handy break, not so much to try and gather up their collective pride as in the case of Geelong but rather to recover from their many, many injuries. Before the break, the Dockers sent their B team to South Australia where they gallantly lost to the Port Power. Prior to that Fremantle gallantly lost to Richmond and a week before that they gallantly lost to the Kangaroos. Fremantle are currently sitting three wins out of the eight.