ANOTHER Nat Fyfe masterclass has ensured Fremantle stayed perfect at home, with the superstar skipper doing as he pleased against a toothless Western Bulldogs on Saturday night.
In slippery conditions, the Dockers tuned up for next Sunday's historic Western Derby with a thumping 16.12 (108) to 8.6 (54) victory, continuing their love affair with new home Optus Stadium, where they remain undefeated after three games.
Freo piled on eight unanswered goals either side of half-time to kill off the Dogs' fight, and showed Luke Beveridge's youthful line-up is still miles off the pace, despite an encouraging past two weeks.
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Fyfe was simply unstoppable, returning a career-high 43 disposals, 21 contested possessions, 13 clearances, seven inside 50s and booting a goal.
"Your leaders have got to play well under pressure and Nathan's clearly doing that," coach Ross Lyon said post-match.
"We've had (Matthew) Pavlich in the past and (David) Mundy … if they don't stand up – or most weeks stand up – it's very difficult for young players.
"That's his job and that's what we expect him to do, and that's what he expects, but he's delivering really well."
The 2015 Brownlow medallist has spoken about reclaiming his standing as the game's best player after his broken leg battles, and will almost certainly pocket three votes for an imperious performance.
However, Michael Walters was also outstanding, bagging five majors, as the Dockers claimed a healthy percentage boost.
The triumph was soured by a suspected fractured metatarsal suffered by on-fire forward Matt Taberner, who headed to the rooms before quarter-time.
Taberner got the Dockers off to a flier, booting the opening goal and taking five marks – three contested - but failed to reappear after the first break.
The Bulldogs had their own injury concern, with sharpshooter Tory Dickson pinging his left hamstring early in the second term on a dirty night for the visitors.
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Beveridge's men were outhunted and outclassed, committing some horrible turnovers and lacking any semblance of a threatening forward structure.
The Dogs only trailed by six points when Patrick Lipinski snapped truly at the eight-minute mark of the second term, but then went goalless until just before three quarter-time when Tom Boyd snuck through his second.
Boyd's comeback was a rare highlight, and every teammate ran to celebrate when he kicked their opening goal in his first appearance since taking time out of the game for mental health issues.
Fremantle's senior players have been critical in the rebuilding side's impressive home form and Fyfe, Walters, Lachie Neale, David Mundy and Aaron Sandilands stood tall again.
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Fyfe relished the contest, repeatedly bursting through would-be tacklers, while Walters' back-to-back goals got Freo rolling in the opening term.
Walters tapped his black armband and pointed to the sky after his first major in a moving tribute to former teammate Shane Yarran.
Sandilands (53 hit-outs) dominated young WA product Tim English in the ruck and gave the Dockers' midfielders an armchair ride.
Mobile forward Cam McCarthy, Hayden Ballantyne and Adam Cerra each booted two goals as the Dockers continued their scoring spree at their new home.
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Freo is averaging more than 103 points at Optus Stadium, compared to 55.5 in two games away, and will be full of confidence for the first Western Derby at the Burswood venue.
Fremantle had winners everywhere on a memorable night, when the club's fifth debutant Taylin Duman showed plenty of composure with 15 touches from half-back.
But the inexperienced Dogs relied too heavily on too few.
Half-backs Matthew Suckling (27 disposals) and Jason Johannisen (25) tried hard against a flood of inside 50s, while Toby McLean, Lin Jong and Jack Macrae never gave up the fight.
But the Dogs will want to forget their 10th loss from their last 11 games in Perth - and eighth defeat from 10 games against the Dockers - ahead of a Friday night clash with winless Carlton.
"It was just a deflating experience tonight," Beveridge said post-match.
"We had a couple of reasonable weeks where we played some good footy.
"Unfortunately, the key ingredients to those performances, pretty much fundamentals of our game, went missing for three quarters.
"We didn't handle the ball cleanly. We double-handled. In tackles we gave the ball back to them and we didn't restrict them when they had the ball.
"Fremantle's pressure was pretty good and obviously Fyfe was quite outstanding."
MEDICAL ROOM
Fremantle: Matt Taberner, who battled a stress fracture in his left leg over pre-season, was sore during the week and his night was over when he went down to the rooms just before quarter-time. Ross Lyon confirmed after the match that Taberner had a fractured metatarsal and could "be out for a while".
Western Bulldogs: The Bulldogs lost some bite early in the second quarter when Tory Dickson pinged his left hamstring and was out of the contest. Young WA defender Aaron Naughton had a homecoming to forget after copping a knee to the head from teammate Zaine Cordy in the third quarter, although he bravely returned to the action after receiving some attention on the bench. Beveridge thought Naughton would be OK after having a cut cheek, but Dickson is set for a stint on the sidelines.
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NEXT UP
The Dogs have a short turnaround with only six days before they return home to Etihad Stadium to take on the winless Blues, while Freo is gearing up for the historic first Western Derby against an Eagles outfit which has won four in a row.
FREMANTLE 4.0 6.3 12.6 16.12 (108)
WESTERN BULLDOGS 1.2 3.3 4.4 8.6 (54)
GOALS
Fremantle: Walters 5, McCarthy 2, Cerra 2, Ballantyne 2, Matera, Fyfe, Mundy, Taberner, S.Hill
Western Bulldogs: Boyd 2, Gowers 2, Wallis, Lipinski, McLean, Jong
BEST
Fremantle: Fyfe, Walters, Sandilands, Neale, Wilson, Ryan
Western Bulldogs: Bontempelli, Suckling, Daniel, Dahlhaus, Johannisen, Macrae
INJURIES
Fremantle: Taberner (fractured foot)
Western Bulldogs: Dickson (hamstring)
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Brown, Nicholls, Findlay.
Official crowd: 43,056 at Optus Stadium
