THE BRISBANE Lions' next two opponents experienced mixed fortunes over the weekend, with Carlton on the end of a belting from the West Coast Eagles and Fremantle notching a morale-boosting win over Melbourne.

The Blues, thumped by 61 points by the Eagles at Subiaco and due to face the Lions at Telstra Dome on Saturday night, will face a worrying start to the week courtesy of Brendan Fevola's report for attempting to strike Tyson Stenglein. They must also bounce back from being thoroughly outplayed and kicking a wasteful 4.15 amidst torrid weather that included hail.

Fremantle, meanwhile, will make the trek to the Gabba in Round 6 with a 45-point victory against the Demons to their credit. In what was a controversy-laced seven days for Fremantle, the Chris Connolly-coached side finally notched a belated first four points and, perhaps more importantly, saw none of its players’ names go into the umpires' notebooks. Fremantle should have key defender Michael Johnson back by the time it plays the Lions, but must first negotiate a home game against Adelaide.

In other results, the Western Bulldogs beat a hapless Richmond by 32 points at the MCG, Port Adelaide overran Collingwood late to record an 18-point win and take its record to 3-1 and Essendon sprang another surprise, emerging a 31-point winner against St Kilda.

The Crows were too strong for Sydney in a 17-point win in Adelaide and Hawthorn continued Geelong's topsy-turvy year with a four-point triumph in Launceston.

For performance of the week, the name of Des Headland looms large, after the ex-Lions and current Docker overcame a challenging week to supply 29 possessions, plenty of hard running and three goals in Fremantle's win over Melbourne. Also worthy of consideration, for the third week in a row, was Adelaide star Andrew McLeod, while Chad Cornes helped inspire Port Adelaide's come-from-behind victory against Collingwood.

With only the one goal against the Kangaroos, the Lions' Jonathan Brown now lies equal ninth on the goal-kicking table with 10 for the season. The list is headed by Essendon's Scott Lucas on 18 and Fremantle's Matthew Pavlich with 17. Evergreen Scott West of the Western Bulldogs has racked up the most possessions with 123, while Simon Black is the highest ranked Lion on 99, in equal 16th spot.

The Lions go into Round 5 with a 2-2 record, occupying seventh spot on the ladder, with the Blues also at 2-2 but sitting 12th on percentage. West Coast is the only unbeaten side in the competition, with Essendon, Port Adelaide, Adelaide and Hawthorn all on three wins.

Western Bulldogs 20.12 (132) d Richmond13.16 (100)

Richmond's wretched start to the season continued on Friday, when it was comfortably accounted for by the Western Bulldogs at the MCG on Friday night. The Bulldogs forged a 32-point victory, despite having star forward Brad Johnson well held by Richmond All-Australian Joel Bowden. Rodney Eade's side looked back to their exciting best at times, with Scott West, Adam Cooney, Ryan Griffen and Matthew Boyd seeing plenty of the ball and Robert Murphy and Luke Darcy finishing off with four goals apiece. The Tigers were brought undone by needless over-possessing and poor disposal, but still managed to keep themselves in the contest and twice mounted second-half challenges on the back of some fine efforts from off-season addition Graham Polak. Andrew Raines was also good for Richmond. Murphy was reported but it seems unlikely that his innocuous-looking contact with Raines will cause the Match Review Panel any great concern.

Port Adelaide 12.12 (84) d Collingwood 9.12 (66)

Collingwood was in front for most of the day, but Port Adelaide was in front when it counted - at the sound of the final siren. The Magpies, with Dale Thomas and the two Shaws - Rhyce and Heath - in good form, looked likely winners mid-way through the third quarter, thanks to a 15-point lead. But the Power found something extra in waterlogged conditions, booting the last five goals of the game to emerge 18-point winners and improve their season record to 3-1. Chad Cornes crowned an excellent personal outing with an important and quite brilliant tackle on Ben Johnson, while Michael Wilson and Brendon Lade also contributed strongly for the victors. Port's Brett Ebert kicked three goals in the best forward line effort of the match.

Essendon 15.9 (99) d St Kilda 9.14 (68)

Essendon is now officially the competition's surprise packet and St Kilda is its biggest enigma, after the Bombers accounted for the Saints by 31 points on Saturday afternoon. The Saints, without Matt Maguire, Max Hudghton or Fraser Gehrig, looked more like the side which meekly succumbed to the Lions in Round 2, rather than the team that thrashed the Bulldogs a week ago. Nick Riewoldt kicked four for St Kilda, but it was nowhere near enough against a Bombers unit, which benefited from a brilliant display by the whippet-quick Alwyn Davey. While the Saints were within striking distance at three quarter-time, Essendon, which received three goals from both Matthew Lloyd and Scott Lucas, put the result beyond doubt with four goals in seven minutes in the last term.

Adelaide 9.7 (61) d Sydney 5.14 (44)

Adelaide maintained a three-year winning run against Sydney with a workmanlike 23-point win at AAMI Stadium. The Swans weren’t helped by their inaccuracy but Adelaide was in control for the vast majority of the match, with a three goal to nil opening term helping to set the Crows on their way. As is their custom, the Swans never gave up and clawed their way back into the contest in the third term, but kicking only a single goal for the entire first half did little for their cause. Once again, Andrew McLeod was in sublime touch for Adelaide, driving the Crows forward from half-back with customary efficiency. Brett Burton's three goals were a game-best effort for the Crows, who now sit at 3-1 - the same record as cross-town rivals Port Adelaide.

Hawthorn 10.16 (76) d Geelong 9.18 (72)

The enterprise-lacking Hawks who ventured to the Gabba in Round 1 seem a thing of the past, having used their familiarity with Aurora Stadium to good advantage in a thrilling four-point win against Geelong. Hawthorn has now won six of its last seven games at its Tasmanian "home" and withstood late pressure from the Cats to make it three victories from as many games since capitulating to the Lions. Luke Hodge started in defence, as the Hawks had a quiet beginning and trailed by three goals at quarter time, but moved into the midfield to good effect, helping get his side back on even terms by half-time. The Cats got two goals and another excellent contribution from Gary Ablett, with James Bartel also handy for Mark Thompson's side.

Fremantle 21.11 (137) d Melbourne 13.14 (92)

There was a significant sigh of relief in Fremantle last night, in the wake of the Dockers' 45-point win over Melbourne. The result gave Fremantle its first points of the year and kept Melbourne and Richmond as the only two sides without a win. Melbourne started positively and received a most encouraging performance from Adem Yze, who kicked an amazing left foot banana goal from the wrong pocket in the second term - a certain contender for goal of the year. Fremantle, however, took advantage of Melbourne's injury woes to outscore the Demons in the first three terms and record a much-needed win. Des Headland, coming off a controversial week, played perhaps his best game for the Dockers, receiving quality support from Matthew Pavlich (six goals) and Paul Hasleby.

West Coast 14.16 (100) d Carlton 4.15 (39)

Carlton tried hard but had little to show for it in being trashed by West Coast to the tune of 61 points at Subiaco Oval. An early torrential downpour made life difficult for both sides, but the Eagles certainly acclimatised better and had little difficulty preserving their unbeaten record. Daniel Kerr and Chris Judd were both excellent early in the most difficult conditions, with David Wirrpanda the most effective forward on the ground in booting four goals. Fevola managed only a single major score for the Blues, who were best served by Marc Murphy, Kade Simpson and Matthew Lappin.