FREMANTLE won the enthralling 27th Western Derby on Saturday afternoon, overrunning West Coast 12.15 (87) to 10.13 (73).

The Dockers built a 27-point lead in the second term and although West Coast refused to roll over, the Eagles never regained the lead despite getting within a goal midway through the last.

In just his second game, Rhys Palmer had a stellar game for Fremantle with 13 touches in the second term before finishing with 25. But it was the skipper who was the star for the Dockers; Matthew Pavlich kicked five goals from 14 touches and five marks in a sterling captain's game that earned him the Ross Glendinning Medal for best afield.

Paul Duffield appears to have benefitted from a lot of hard work in the gym over the summer, consistently strong at the ball, while Roger Hayden ran himself back into form with a terrific effort from the back pocket. Byron Schammer's game was easily his best of the year.

For West Coast, Adam Hunter was the shining light in defence, time and again taking the telling mark or providing the outlet for the beleaguered defence. Daniel Kerr got a lot of the ball through the middle, Beau Waters and Brett Jones also worked hard and Matt Priddis had his share of touches. Darren Glass, clearly hampered by a knee injury, fought bravely in defence and Ben McKinley kicked three goals in just his second game of AFL football.

Fremantle made three changes before the match with Luke McPharlin (bruised hip), Chris Tarrant (back) and Garrick Ibbotson (infected leg) out of the side and Heath Black, Ryan Murphy and Robbie Warnock in.

West Coast made just the one, with Josh Kennedy having his club debut put on hold as he made way for young goalkicker McKinley, who booted seven goals in the WAFL last weekend. And Scott Selwood’s debut made his family the 13th in  the 150 years of the AFL to have four brothers play at the elite level.

West Coast burst out of the blocks and had a goal within a minute, when a throw-in from the pocket saw Cox tap to Kerr who handballed to Wirrpanda to goal from 20 metres. Wirrpanda was soon involved again, dishing to Quinten Lynch to bomb it home from 50.

Fremantle's first came from a Kerr turnover, when Des Headland grabbed the mark just outside the arc from an attempted clearance and rammed it back through the big opening, before David Mundy and Ryan Crowley goaled from a similar distance; the first from a pass from Pavlich and the second from a Josh Carr clearance at the restart.

Priddis then made the most of a 50m penalty against Murphy to regain the lead, and West Coast went to the first break up by three points.

The second term belonged to Fremantle, with the first five goals before West Coast snatched two back late.

Pavlich got the first on the wing, took two bounces and smashed it home from well outside 50, then beat Glass in the air to run in and goal.

A terrible Chad Fletcher turnover in the midfield led to the captain's third in succession, before he created the next with a handball off the ground to former skipper Peter Bell. Palmer then passed it to Jeff Farmer to kick one from 35.

West Coast trailed by 26 points, but McKinley marked at 45 from Priddis and then, one second before the siren, snapped around his body from 50 and saw it bounce through. The margin at the long break was 14 points.

It was back to scrappy at the start of the third, before an extremely fortunate free kick to Headland after a perfect drag-down tackle from Tyson Stenglein saw the former Lion kick it in for Farmer to mark at 35 and convert.

Shannon Hurn kept West Coast in touch with one on the run from 35, before Pavlich slotted his fourth, also from a free. Then it was West Coast's turn to take advantage of a free with a goal to Brad Ebert and, after McKinley nailed his third - marking at 50 and then running on - West Coast was only 10 points down at the last change.

Beau Waters' first goal, wheeling around on his left from 35, saw the margin back to one straight kick, but it took another 12 minutes before Pavlich kicked his fifth to seal the game. Aaron Sandilands then plucked one from a stoppage to kick the last.

Fremantle     3.2  8.5  10.8  12.15  (87)
West Coast  3.5  5.9  8.10  10.13  (73)

GOALS
Fremantle: Pavlich 5, Farmer 2, Headland, Mundy, Crowley, Bell, Sandilands
West Coast: McKinley 3, Lynch 2, Wirrpanda, Priddis, Hurn, Ebert, Waters

BEST
Fremantle: Pavlich, Palmer, J Carr, Mundy, Hayden, Schammer, Grover
West Coast: Kerr, Priddis, Hunter, Waters, Hurn, McKinley

INJURIES
Fremantle: Tarrant (back) replaced in selected side by Murphy, Ibbotson (infected leg) replaced in selected side by Black, McPharlin (hip) replaced in selected side by Warnock
West Coast: Cox (foot), Glass (knee)

Reports: Nil

Umpires: McLaren, Schmitt, Jeffery

Official crowd: 39,027 at Subiaco Oval

The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.