Desperate Dockers fall short of pulling off upset
ROSS Lyon said he wanted Fremantle to earn some respect back. Nat Fyfe said they wanted to show club great Michael Johnson how much the Dockers cared about him.
The Dockers did both at Perth Stadium yesterday but came away with a gut-wrenching loss after pushing Collingwood to the brink.
Eyeing its first scalp of one of this season’s final eight, Fremantle gave itself every chance before falling short by nine points, 11.10 (76) to 9.13 (67).
In some ways this game summed up the Dockers under Lyon.
The home side was willing and committed and their forward pressure at times was fanatical.
But skill errors hurt, especially when some shoddy kicks were the money kick k inside 50 after a power of f work had been done to cre- ate that opportunity.
The poor kicking continued in the last quarter and ultimately sabotaged Fremantle’s bid for what would have been a memorable upset. The Dockers could only manage 1.5 in the final term when the game was there for the taking.
Brennan Cox took a fantastic strong mark with three minutes on the clock and the Dockers trailing by four points but sent his set shot out on the full.
The Magpies, driven by a dominant game from ruckman Brodie Grundy, dodged a purple bullet to seal their topfour spot. Ironically, after a week where defender Sam Murray’s drug bombshell made headlines, it was Josh Thomas – caught himself by ASADA three years ago – who came up with the sealer in the final two minutes.
Lachie Neale and Bradley Hill were the prime movers for the Dockers, while Hayden Ballantyne kicked four goals in a losing cause.
The Fremantle defence was excellent. Joel Hamling held Collingwood livewire Jordan De Goey goalless and Nathan Wilson and Taylin Duman provided plenty of drive.