Freo Storm Home and Take the Ladder — Eat That, East Coast

Right, I’ll say it straight up — I’m an Eagles man through and through, and watching Fremantle sit on top of the AFL ladder gives me complicated feelings. But over here in the west, we take our wins where we can get ’em, and seeing a WA club rock up to the SCG and absolutely torch the Sydney Swans in the last quarter? Mate, I’ll take that any day of the week.

The Dockers didn’t just beat the Swans. They humiliated them in that final term, turning what had been a tight, grinding contest into a statement performance that announced Freo to the rest of the competition loud and clear. Top of the ladder, outright, on the road. You love to see it.

What Actually Happened Out There

Look, anyone who tells you they saw this coming from a mile away is kidding themselves. Fremantle had been in the contest through three quarters — competitive, spirited, doing what good Freo sides do — but Sydney had that aura of a team playing on their home deck, in their conditions, in front of their fans. The Swans were confident. Comfortable, even.

Then the last quarter happened, and the Dockers just went absolutely berserk. They found another gear that Sydney simply couldn’t match, piling on the score in a way that left the SCG crowd stunned and the rest of the competition taking notice. It wasn’t fluky, either. It was organised, purposeful, relentless footy. The kind of stuff that Justin Longmuir has been building toward for a couple of seasons now.

When the siren went, Fremantle had claimed top spot on the ladder outright. Sole possession. Best team in the competition right now, at least on points. And they’d done it the hard way — flying across the country, playing in someone else’s backyard, and still finding a way to blow the doors off in the final term.

The Travel Thing — Let’s Actually Talk About It

Because you know I’m going to bring it up, and you know it’s fair game. Over here in the west, we bang on about the travel burden constantly, and I know some of the eastern-states mob roll their eyes every time we raise it. But this win actually underlines how impressive the WA clubs can be when they travel well.

Fremantle crossed the Nullarbor, played a top-eight Sydney side at the SCG — one of the tougher venues in the competition to visit — and then turned it on in the fourth quarter when tired legs should have been an issue. If that’s not an argument for the quality of what WA football produces, I don’t know what is. And just quietly, it’d be nice if the scheduling gods threw both the Dockers and my mob a slightly friendlier run at some point. Just a thought. No big deal.

Longmuir’s Got Something Cooking

Let’s give credit where it’s absolutely due. Justin Longmuir has done a remarkable job building this Fremantle side into a genuine contender, and the way they finished this game speaks to the culture he’s created in Freo’s football department. Teams that fold under pressure don’t produce last-quarter blitzes on the road. Teams that lack belief don’t find that extra gear when the game is on the line.

There’s a toughness to this Dockers side that you couldn’t really say about some of their earlier incarnations under Longmuir. They’re fitter, harder at the contest, and they’ve got multiple contributors across the ground. It’s not a one-man band relying on a single superstar to bail them out — it’s a proper, rounded footy team that can hurt you in different ways.

Is Fremantle a genuine premiership contender this year? Sitting on top of the ladder, you’d have to say yes, at least until something proves otherwise. And that’s a sentence I genuinely enjoy typing, even as an Eagles supporter, because WA footy deserves to be having this conversation.

The Swans Aren’t Dead Yet — But This Stings

To be fair to Sydney — and I’ll be fair, because I’m a generous bloke — this is a setback, not a catastrophe. The Swans are a well-coached, experienced side with plenty of quality on their list, and one home loss doesn’t define their season. They’ll bounce back. They always do.

But the manner of it will sting. Getting run over in the last quarter at home, by a side that flew in from Perth, in front of your own fans? That’s the kind of performance that gets examined in video sessions for weeks. It will put some doubts in the mind of the Swans’ group about their last-quarter endurance and defensive structure when the game opens up.

You could argue — and plenty would — that Sydney came into this game expecting to hold on and grind out a comfortable four points on their terms. Fremantle had other ideas, and the Dockers executed them with a ferocity that the Swans simply had no answer for. That’s the sort of thing that echos around a competition.

Where Does This Leave the WA Derby Picture?

Alright, I can’t write an entire Freo article without acknowledging the elephant — or should I say, the eagle — in the room. Over here in the west, the Derby means everything, and right now, Fremantle are flying and my Eagles are… not quite flying at the same altitude, let’s say.

As an Eagles supporter it’s a bit painful to admit, but Freo deserve every bit of credit they’re getting right now. If the season ended today, they’d be the best side in the competition. They haven’t just snuck to the top on a soft run — they’ve earned it by beating good teams, including one of the competition’s flagbearers, away from home.

I’ll be cheering for the Eagles to close the gap. That goes without saying. But I’ll also be quietly chuffed that a WA side is sitting up there in the place the mainstream media usually reserves for Collingwood, Carlton or whoever the flavour-of-the-month is over east. It’s bout time, frankly.

The Big Picture: Freo Belong in the Conversation

Here’s my overall take, and I think it’s a pretty fair one. Fremantle Fremantle are not a surprise packet any more. They’re not the plucky upstart WA team that might cause an upset if everything goes right. They are, right now, the top team in the AFL competition, and they’ve played some of the best football of any side this season.

That last-quarter blitz against Sydney wasn’t a fluke or a moment of inspiration from nowhere. It was the product of a well-drilled, mentally tough, physically conditioned football club doing what well-drilled, mentally tough, physically conditioned football clubs do. They pounced when the moment arrived, and the Swans had no answer.

Over here in the west, we’ll enjoy this. We’ll wave the purple flag — even those of us who’d normally be waving blue and gold — because WA footy is having a moment, and the Dockers are the ones leading the charge. The rest of the competition has been put on notice. Fremantle is for real, September is a long way away, and things are getting very interesting indeed.

Now someone pass me a cold one and let me enjoy this without having to watch the post-match coverage ignore the whole thing because it happened west of the Nullarbor. Cheers, Bluey.