'It wasn't always pretty' is fast becoming Fremantle's unofficial club motto, after another preposterously dull game of football featuring Fremantle as one of the headliners saw them lose to Essendon by 7 points. Fremantle started the game looking like a team who arrived confident of causing upset on the road but the game never got going. With all the action of a staring contest but few of the thrills. At some point during the third quarter, Essendon decided to start kicking some goals but Fremantle had settled in to defending their first quarter 2 goal lead and the tight time frame of one and a half quarters remaining was too tight for them to turn the ship around in time.