In one of this season's most uplifting stories, Anthony Morabito made his AFL comeback from three consecutive left knee reconstructions against Melbourne. After 1394 days on the sidelines, the luckless Docker had to cool his jets a little longer when he started as the sub. He was unleashed during the third term for his 24th career game and ran onto the field to a rousing reception. Morabito almost immediately got his first touch when he was paid a free-kick for a push in the back and nearly brought the house down with 15 seconds left in the match when he fired at goal but missed to the near side. The 22-year-old showed no signs of nerves as he gathered eight touches in a welcome return.

 

Melbourne's hopes of a boilover were boosted when Dockers skipper Matthew Pavlich was withdrawn before the match due to illness. But in the end it made little difference to the result. Into the side came first-gamer Michael Apeness, the 199cm 19-year-old who Freo recruited from Eastern Ranges with pick No. 17 in last year's draft. Apeness provided a target and contested strongly up forward, but missed out on a maiden goal when pushed his set shot wide in the third quarter. He was subbed out of the game soon after with five touches and two marks as Freo romped to its 11th win in the past 15 clashes with Melbourne.

 

After 157 matches in the red and blue, Colin Sylvia came up against his former teammates for the first time. Sylvia started across half-forward and was picked up by Jeremy Howe and didn't take long to get involved. The 28-year-old got an early touch pushing up to half-back and nearly punished his former side with a snap across his body that rolled wide for Freo's first score after 11 minutes. In his fourth game for the Dockers, the popular ex-Demon collected 12 disposals in what was a relatively uneventful clash against his old club.

 

It was a memorable first 99 games for Hayden Ballantyne and match number 100 night continued the theme for the Dockers goalsneak. Ballantyne, who became the third Sandover medallist to reach the milestone in the AFL era, was in the thick of the action early, booting Freo's second goal in an arm-wrestle of a first quarter. The mercurial small forward then dodged an opponent with his back to goal before wheeling on to his left foot to snap another major in the second term. Ballantyne finished with three goals and celebrated his milestone match with a thumping win.

 

Paul Roos might think he mentored Ross Lyon a bit too well during their time at the Sydney Swans. Lyon took the reins at St Kilda in 2007 - two seasons after tasting premiership success as an assistant to Roos - and used his intimate knowledge to lead the Saints to five wins from seven meetings against his former club. Given the Demons were rank underdogs, Roos was always going to struggle striking back when the two coaches met for the first time at the helm of their new clubs. The 63-point loss means Roos' record against Lyon is his equal-worst against any coach he has faced eight times or more.