It was the battle of the two taggers with former Fremantle player Nick Lower going to his ex-teammate David Mundy, and Ryan Crowley taking up the job of curtailing Ryan Griffen. To half time, it appeared as though both defenderswere successfully negating their opponents with both Mundy and Griffen on six disposals each. After the break, Mundy broke loose to be involved in the first two goals with tidy inside 50s while Griffen's frustration boiled over and he pushed Crowley around a bit. At the end of the game, Mundy had 17 and Griffen 17 - and their opponents were among their respective teams' best.
2. Captain's calamity
After pre-game rumours swirled about Fremantle forward Matthew Pavlich missing due to the split hand webbing he suffered two weeks ago, the skipper came out and drew Jordan Roughead as expected. While he ended with two goals for the game, a period in the second quarter won't make his career highlights reel. Pavlich markeddeep in the goal square near the post, only to have a brain fade and play on with an attempted snap. Roughead, annoyed at having being outmuscled, threwhimself on Pavlich's boot and snaffled a certain goal. Four minutes later, Pavlich uncharacteristically drove a relatively easy set shot into the post.
3. Breaking trends.
For a good period there,Fremantle could not buy a win at the Docklands venue, losing six in a row across 2010 and 2011. Last year in the club's first season under Ross Lyon, it managed three wins from three games. Saturday's victory also shelves a long-standing hoodoo for Freo involving the Bulldogs – before this weekend, it had not beaten the Dogs outside of Perth since round 14, 2004. And, Freo easily won the first quarter, which was something that wasn't a given last year with the team claiming only four opening stanzas from 12 interstate games.
4. A sub of a different kind
The third quarter was held up for several minutes when goal umpire Courtney Lai suffered a sickening knee injury at the 'Footscray End' of the field. Lai was standing straddled when Michael Walters received the ball at point blank range and prepared to slam it through for a goal as Liam Picken ran in to try and stop him. Picken dove across in an attempt to smother, didn't manage it and instead ploughed into Lai's leg, which buckled inwards. Lai then had to stay on the ground until a stretcher was organised, with members from both teams' fitness staff carrying him off. Triple M later reported Lai is a doctor and diagnosed an anterior cruciate ligament tear in the rooms afterwards. Emergency goal umpire Chris Appleton replaced him for the rest of the game.
5. A week is a long time in football
Last week, Brett Goodes was all the rage after his rags to riches story culminated in his AFL debut at the age of 29 with 24 disposals against the Brisbane Lions. This week his numbers were there again (21 touches) but his effectiveness down, although he wasn't on his own island in that regard. Still, a silly decision in the second quarter let him down and almost cost the Dogs a goal. As the ball returned to the middle after a goal, Goodes ran towards Pavlich and collected him in a coat-hanger motion, giving away an instant free kick. He's lucky that was the set shot Pavlich slapped the post with.
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs.
