Chris Mayne was asked in the lead-up to his 100th match against GWS if he would prefer to kick five goals or lay 10 tackles. Mayne answered in favour of the latter without hesitation. He kicked two goals in his 100th but laid 11 tackles, four more than his next best teammate Michael Barlow. Mayne is fast establishing himself as one of the best defensive forwards in the AFL and one of Fremantle's most valuable commodities.

Opposition teams have found it hard to score against Fremantle at Patersons Stadium and accordingly, Jeremy Cameron was predicted to struggle to stay in touch with the Coleman Medal leaders. However, he managed to kick four goals out of his side's total of six against the Dockers to keep himself in touch. He could have kicked more as he missed a regulation set-shot in the opening term and nearly conjured a miracle snap from the pocket. Cameron, on 58 goals, is just two goals shy of the Coleman leader Josh Kennedy (60) with three rounds remaining.

Mark Whiley had played just seven matches heading into the Fremantle clash but he was charged with the task of tagging one of the AFL's most in-form players in Nathan Fyfe and he did a terrific job. Fyfe had 19 disposals and two goals in the end, but given he kicked four goals against Adelaide a fortnight ago, and has been averaging 26 disposals per game this year, Whiley can hold his head high for a job well done.   

Ross Lyon said during the week that Matthew Pavlich had been pent up while serving his three-match suspension. He returned against GWS but took a while to work his way into the game. There were no contested marks or trademark 50m goals and he finished with 11 touches, two goals and six marks. Fremantle would expect Pavlich to be better for the run and he should be fresh for a big assault on September.

 

Hayden Ballantyne put in a nomination for goal of the year with an electrifying moment in the third term. After a switch across the middle of Patersons, Ballantyne marked with the flight of the ball on the logo on the broadcast side and had just a metre on his opponent Zac Williams. Ballantyne didn't break stride and took Williams on. He slalomed from the wing to 30m out with the three bounces, and only shook Williams once inside 50, before drilling the drop punt to a rousing reception from the Dockers crowd. Ballantyne was subbed not long afterwards as a precautionary measure.