Before the season started, Fremantle coach Chris Connolly said he wanted to see three derbies in the West each year, and after his team beat West Coast 14.12 (96) to 11.16 (82), he could be about to get his wish.
If Adelaide beats Port Adelaide on Sunday, Fremantle could host West Coast next weekend.
The ball spent almost all of the final term in front of the West Coast goals, but when Freo took it forward in the 19th minute and the ball spilled loose in front of the point post and Justin Longmuir slotted it home from inside a metre, it was just the second time for the term that Fremantle had gone inside 50 to West Coast’s 13.
The bad news for Fremantle came at the end of the first term when Jeff Farmer was carted from the ground and off to hospital with an injured back.
All the talk in the lead-up to the game was about responsibility due to the finals being next week, but the players obviously took the old cliché ‘one week at a time’ to heart, and both teams flew the flag with vigour.
Bone-crunching tackles and off-the-ball incidents were rife, as both teams were fired up by the capacity crowd.
Rookie ruckman Aaron Sandilands was terrific as he consistently gave his midfield first use of the ball at centre bounces and around the ground, while counterpart Dean Cox was similarly fantastic.
Paul Hasleby, skipper Peter Bell and Matthew Pavlich all did well through the middle as the Dockers poured on six goals to two and they turned a half-time deficit of four points into a match-winning 19-point break.
West Coast’s midfield also worked hard, with Daniel Kerr, Michael Braun and captain Ben Cousins.
Farmer got the first two – the initial goal of the game a tumbling mongrel punt from outside 50 and outside the boundary, and the second a snap from 25 metres out in front.
Troy Simmonds marked and kicked the Dockers’ third and after 14 minutes, only the Dockers had slotted majors.
West Coast got on the board 6 minutes later when Dean Cox was awarded a free in the ruck and then Gardiner, who was dangerous as he roved the forward line, beat Graham Polak all ends up to mark 20 metres out.
Another West Coast tall then chimed in, with Andrew McDougall, who was collected early by Paul Hasleby and left the ground in a daze, being awarded a free before the ball had been back to the middle.
Justin Longmuir then sharked the ball off a marking contest before Ashley Sampi took a clever mark at the front of a pack to send the teams to quarter time locked together at 26 points a piece.
Gardiner started the second term with another goal from a free kick, but Sandilands snared the next after sharking the ball off a pack before Medhurst did likewise.
Matera got his first courtesy of a free against former Docker captain Shaun McManus before Cox nailed his second with a mark from 50.
Ashley McIntosh, playing his last home and away game before retiring, then cleaned up Luke McPharlin and was reported by umpire Corin Rowe just two minutes from the end of the term, and West Coast took a four point lead to the big break.
The lead swapped back and forth through the first 15 minutes of the third until Fremantle kicked four consecutive goals before the final change.
FREMANTLE: 4-2, 4-6, 9-9, 14.12 (96)
WEST COAST: 4-2, 7-4, 12-10, 11.16 (82)
GOALS: FREMANTLE: Medhurst 3, J Longmuir 2, Farmer, Hasleby 1, Bell, Pavlich, Sandilands, T Longmuir, Walker, Simmonds
WEST COAST: Matera 2, Gardiner, Cox, Kerr, Sampi 1, Wirrpunda, McDougall
BEST: FREMANTLE: Sandilands, Hasleby, Bell, McPharlin, Hayden
WEST COAST: Kerr, Cox, Braun, Cousins, Fletcher
INJURIES: FREMANTLE: Farmer (back), Cook (ankle)
WEST COAST: Jakovich (hamstring), Wirrpunda (groin)
CHANGES: West Coast: Embley by Staker. Fremantle: Croad and Parker by Thornton and Webster
UMPIRES: Vozzo, Allen, Rowe
REPORT: McIntosh (West Coast) for striking McPharlin (West Coast) in the second quarter)
CROWD: 43,027 at Subiaco Oval.
