As a crowd, I don’t think we are as ‘intimidating’ as the Eagles crowd. The Eagles crowd is a feral mix of entitlement, indignation and spite.
But Freo fans are louder, and more supportive of our own team. When Freo gets on a run, the roar is deafening, and the Freo chant hammers the situation home to the opposing team. The feeling it evokes in the opposition is not one of fear or intimidation, it is one of resignation. Football is about swings and momentum. The Freo crowd is tapped into that, and helps turn small momentum swings into crescendos, and helps arrests swings the other way.
The proudest moments I have as a Freo fans is when the Freo chant rings around when a couple of goals are kicked against us. It has nothing to do with intimidation, it is about support for our lads.