For the last few years, Hawthorn have been dragging Fremantle over to Tasmania, we assume in some sort of attempt to bore the locals into submission so Victoria can take over the joint while they sleep. Fremantle have played their part by joining in the scraps and always letting the "home" side win in the hope that they'll eventually learn how to pay their own way and stop being propped up by the big clubs slike Fremantle. But, with AFl handouts being so plentiful, for the last couple of years, Hawthorn have been kind enough to visit WA and help Freo out with some their own PR problems.

The Tasmanian experience, which Fremantle are forbidden to talk about as part of their settlement in the The People of Launceston v Fremantle Football Club case, was not a successful one for Fremantle.

If gave Hawthorn a walk up start for several years, with the Dockers forced into a Steve Martin, John Candy style adventure across the states of Australia. Last year though, with a restraining order preventing the AFL from putting the Dockers within 5km of Launceston, Hawthorn had to head to Perth.

The Dockers weren't having a particularly good trot when the Hawks arrived in Round 7. They'd lost 4 of their first 6 games and were returning from a long trip to Brisbane where they'd been ambushed by the Brisbane premiership side who'd been cryogenically frozen 3 years earlier, just so they could beat Fremantle in a home and away match when they really needed a win.

The Dockers didn't start well. They fell 5 goals behind the Hawks and were looking like a side that would need to work their way up to a rabble. Luckily they were playing the Hawks and, they got so far ahead of themselves that Fremantle were able to recover with an inspired second quarter before slogging it out for a 16 point win.

Heath Black had 33 touches and Sam Mitchell 31. Chris Tarrant ran amok with two goals and 23 possessions with Adam Campbell top scoring for the Dockers with 4 goals. Tim Boyle kicked 3 for the Hawks, while Trent Croad kicked a couple of late ones. James Walker picked up his first Brownlow votes for his career, taking the 3. Adam Campbell and Luke Hodge rounded out the placings.

Back in Round 1 of 2006, Fremantle hadn't yet been banned from Tasmania and were putting on a brave face as they were dragged across the ocean to start their season. It wasn't a good start. The typical Launceston circle work kept Fremantle's interest for the first half but a 10 minute burst in the third quarter saw the Hawks butcher the Fremantle midfield and get up by 10 goals. Fremantle fought back but the damage was pretty bad and they still finished 22 points down. Mark Williams was the talk of the town and the next big thing with 8 goals to his name (he followed it up with 2 disposals the next week). Jeff Farmer kicked 3 goals for Fremantle along with Luke McPharlin and Justin Longmuir. Sam Mitchell had 35 touches and Paul Hasleby 30 for Freo. The umpires went all brown and yellow with votes going to Mark Williams, Arsey Bateman and Ben Dixon. Clinton Wolf liked the work of Michael Johnson, Peter Bell and Luke McPharlin.

Later that year, things turned around for Fremantle. Not only had they been banned from re-entering Tasmania or its waters, they were lucky enough to get Hawthorn to pop around for a visit. A 6 goal opening quarter had Hawthorn beaten very early on, in tricky conditions. Hawthorn couldn't even manage one goal in the last quarter and Fremantle cruised in for a 53 point win. Justin Longmuir and Jeff Farmer top scored with 4 goals each. Mark Williams kicked most of Hawthorn's score with his 4. Peter Bell and Shane Crawford had 29 touches each. The votes went the way of Justin Longmuir, Peter Bell and Roger Hayden while the Clinton Wolf Voting committee threw Matthew Pavlich and Troy Cook into the mix.

But while the latest back to back wins against Hawthorn have come at Subiaco Oval, Fremantle haven't played a lot of footy against Hawthorn at Subiaco Oval in the modern era. Since Ben Allan's triumph at the Telstra Dome in 2001, Fremantle have only seen Hawthorn visit 4 times. Three of those finished in the Freo Heave Ho Being sung and the other, well, Fremantle supporters have been forbidden ever to talk about the 2005 loss again.

The win in 2002 was a sight to behold though. In the 12 months prior, Fremantle had taken the Hawks star forward, their two best coaches and their best young prospect. When they left Subi Oval that day Fremantle had also taken the Hawks pride, self respect and their pants. The Dockers put the clamps on Hawthorn keeping them to 2 goals at three quarter time and conceding just a couple more in the late stages of the game. It was a beautiful site seeing all the key forwards sharing the goals around with 4 players putting through 3 each. The umpires liked Troy Simmonds’ game and had some good things to say about Peter Bell and Steven Koops. Fremantle kicked 14 goals to end the day 61 points the better side.

Hawthorn haven't had any problems kicking goals this year. Last week they beat the first side to be accused o tanking at half time in the first match of the season. Hawthorn kicked 23 goals for the game, with 'Major Tom' Franklin putting through 6. Sam Mitchell had 35 touches and Chance Bateman 29, all combining to put them on the top of the ladder, just ahead of heavy weights Essendon and Richmond.

Fremantle were bested by Collingwood, the side who were a knot of wind shy of beating Geelong in the Grand Final last year and will no doubt be equally unlucky this season. The Dockers kicked a sensible 13 goals at the MCG but fell 3 or 4 short. David Mundy topped the possessions list and Luke McPharlin kicked three goals. The Dockers are somewhere in the bottom half of the ladder.