The Dockers have won three of the past four clashes against the Cats, their dominance stamped when they cut Geelong down to size on their home turf in last year's qualifying final at Simonds Stadium.
Throw in the various skirmishes that have been a feature of previous encounters and you can see why the match up has become so hotly contested.
"You go back to when Dean Solomon cleaned up Cameron Ling, and that really got the ball rolling," two-time Geelong premiership forward Cameron Mooney told AFL.com.au.
Tensions have simmered along since that incident, in 2008, which resulted in Ling suffering a compressed fracture of his cheekbone.
Matthew Scarlett's infamous punch on Hayden Ballantyne in 2012, and other recent moments of angst featuring Steve Johnson, Hayden Ballantyne, Joel Selwood and Ryan Crowley have set the scene for a tight tussle whenever these teams square off.
"I think Fremantle know if they niggle a few of the Geelong blokes, they'll bite back," Mooney said.
Mooney is certain the Geelong players would have thought about last year's disappointing finals loss in the lead up to Saturday night.
"For Freo to come over there and really embarrass Geelong, and with everything that went on, the rivalry's really ballooned from all of that," he said.
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Former Fremantle defender Adam McPhee believes there is a great respect held between the sides, but concedes the niggle is something that has become endemic when the two sides butt heads.
But McPhee told AFL.com.au the Cats-Dockers feud has a long way to go before it reaches the level of the Hawthorn-Essendon or Carlton-Collingwood encounters.
"These sorts of rivalries have been built over 50 years or even a century, and Fremantle and Geelong are still building that level of rivalry between each other," McPhee said.
Twitter: @AFL_BenGuthrie
