Purple Reign? Fremantle Prove They’ve Got the Steel for September

Righto, I’ll say it plainly because nobody east of the Nullarbor ever gives us credit for being fair dinkum about footy over here in the west: Fremantle just showed the competition they’ve got something in the tank that a lot of clubs would kill for. Watching them go toe to toe with Geelong and come out the other side into a preliminary final, even a bloke in eagles colours has to tip his cap.

I’m not going soft in my old age. I still reckon the Eagles have more premiership cabinet space than the Dockers will ever need, and I’ll remind anyone within earshot of that at the pub. But footy’s footy, and what Fremantle did against the Cats wasn’t a fluke. It was steel. Actual honest to god steel, the kind you can’t manufacture with a good draft and a bit of luck.

The Derby Bragging Rights Aside, This Was Different

Let’s get the obvious out the way. Any win for Fremantle gets measured against us over here, that’s just the nature of the WA footy conversation, always has been. But this wasn’t about derby bragging rights. This was Fremantle standing up against a genuine flag fancy in Geelong, a club with finals experience oozing out of every player on the list, and the Dockers didn’t blink.

That’s the bit that should worry the rest of the competition. Geelong have been the benchmark for composure in September for the best part of two decades. They know how to grind a game out, they know how to make you pay for every mistake. For Fremantle to match that level of poise, on a stage where plenty of younger sides have gone missing in the past, tells you this group isn’t just building something. They’ve arrived.

Where the Steel Actually Comes From

I’ve watched enough finals footy to know that talent alone doesn’t get you through prelims. You need blokes who’ll put their head over the ball when it’s ugly, mids who’ll win the contested footy when the game’s up for grabs, and a backline that doesn’t panic when the heat comes on. Fremantle have built exactly that over the last couple of seasons, brick by brick, and it’s finally paying off on the big stage.

You look at their engine room and there’s a hardness to it now that wasn’t always there. It’s not flashy, it’s not the kind of footy that gets the Melbourne commentators frothing on a Thursday night, but it wins you finals. Contested ball, second efforts, the stuff that doesn’t always show up on the highlights reel but shows up on the scoreboard when it matters.

The Bias Question, Because Someone’s Gotta Ask It

Now here’s where I get my one whinge in, because you knew it was coming. If this was a Victorian club knocking off Geelong in a final, we’d have wall to wall coverage for a fortnight, breathless columns about destiny and dynasties. Fremantle do it and it’s a nice little mention on the news before they cut back to whatever’s happening at Marvel Stadium.

The travel WA clubs cop gets talked about every year and then conveniently forgotten every other week. Fremantle and us both know what it’s like hopping on a plane every second week while the eastern states sides sleep in their own beds. For a club to build finals form under that kind of scheduling grind and still be standing in September, that’s not nothing. That deserves more than a passing mention on the six o’clock news, in my humble opinion.

Can They Actually Go All the Way?

This is the question everyone’s asking now, and I reckon you’d be silly to write them off. The prelim final stage is where reputations get made or shattered, and Fremantle have already shown they don’t freeze when the lights get bright. That’s half the battle in September footy. Plenty of good sides have folded at exactly this point of the year because the occasion got too big for them.

What Fremantle need now is to back it up, because one big scalp doesn’t make a premiership. Geelong will be filthy about how that game slipped away and you can bet they’ll be dissecting every minute of it. The next test for the Dockers is proving that performance wasn’t a one off inspired effort but the genuine level this list can play at week after week.

If they can do that, and I say this through gritted teeth as a bloke who wants nothing more than to see purple disappointment in a fortnight, they’re a genuine shot at the whole thing. You don’t get much better proof of finals credentials than putting away a club with Geelong’s finals pedigree when it actually counts.

What It Means for the West

Here’s the bit that actually matters to me, and it’s bigger than club colours for a second. Every time a WA side goes deep into September, it’s good for footy over here full stop. It’s good for junior participation, it’s good for the perception that this state isn’t just a feeder system for Victorian clubs, and it’s good for shutting up the commentators who reckon nothing good happens west of Ceduna.

So even though it kills me a little to type this, I want Fremantle to keep winning right up until the point they’d have to play us. Every win they get is another data point proving WA footy belongs at the pointy end of finals, and that’s a bigger conversation than just purple versus blue and gold, or purple versus anyone really.

The Eagles will have their day again, I’ve got no doubt about that, we’ve been through enough rebuilds to know the wheel turns eventually. But right now, credit where it’s due, Fremantle have shown genuine substance when it counted most. They didn’t just beat Geelong, they matched them for want and composure in the moments that decide finals footy.

The Bottom Line

Call it grudging respect if you like, but that’s exactly what this is. Fremantle have proven over the back half of this season that they’re not just making up the numbers in September, they’re genuine contenders with the steel to match it with the competition’s benchmark sides. Wether that translates into a flag remains to be seen, and there’s a long way still to go.

But as a footy watcher first and an Eagles supporter second, even if that ordering pains me some weeks, I can appreciate what this Fremantle group has built. They’ve earnt the right to be talked about as genuine flag chances. Just don’t expect me to be barracking for them if it comes down to it.