Yeah Nah: Fremantle Might Actually Be the Real Deal

I’ll be upfront with you: I own two blue-and-gold scarves, one faded guernsey from the ’92 flag, and precisely zero pieces of purple clothing. I am not the bloke you’d expect to write a love letter to Fremantle. But over here in the west, you back your own — and mate, what the Dockers are doing this season is getting hard to dismiss, even for a man of my persuasion.

So I’m going to say it plainly. Fremantle have the power, the poise, and enough genuine star power to ride this wave of hype all the way to a premiership. There. Written it down. Don’t come looking for me in September if I’m wrong.

What a win over the top-four looks like

The Dockers’ recent work against genuine finals contenders hasn’t just been solid — it’s been the kind of contested, grinding, get-in-your-face footy that wins flags. They’re not sneaking past sides on the back of a fluky three-quarter-time lead. They’re bringing a level of physicality in the contest that a lot of eastern seaboard clubs genuinely don’t have an answer for.

I’ve watched enough footy from Optus Stadium — and yeah, I know Eagles fans have complicated feelings about the place too — to recognise when a team has found their way of playing. The Dockers have found theirs. It doesn’t look pretty every week, but it looks real. That matters.

Serong and the engine room that drives everything

Caleb Serong is the best midfielder in the competition right now. Full stop. You can argue with me at the Rosemount Hotel, buy me a beer and make your case, but I reckon I’ll win. His work rate, his decision-making under pressure, the way he wins contested ball and immediately asks the next question — that’s Brownlow Medal stuff week in, week out.

But here’s the thing people underestimate: Serong doesn’t carry the midfield brigade. He leads it. Andrew Brayshaw is a legitimate co-captain of that engine room. Nat Fyfe, when fit and motivated, still has moments where you remember why the entire country fell in love with the bloke. And Will Brodie, who doesn’t get nearly enough credit in dispatches from the eastern states, does the hard yards that let the stars shine.

That midfield depth isn’t just a strength. Against tired teams in finals, it becomes a weapon.

The elephant in the room: that 30-year wait

Look, you can’t write about Fremantle’s premiership chances without acknowledging the psychological baggage. This is a club that has been to one grand final, lost it convincingly, and has spent the better part of three decades teaching its supporters how to manage hope carefully. Very carefully.

Justin Longmuir is clearly trying to keep a lid on the expectations — and fair enough too. The savvy thing is to say four points is four points and not get carried away. I understand that instinct. It’s sensible coaching.

But here’s my honest take: the players don’t need to believe it’s Wharfie Time yet. They just need to keep playing the way they’re playing. The belief can arrive later. Geelong’s 2007 players probably didn’t need the media telling them they were special — they just kept winning until it was obviously, undeniably true. Fremantle are on a similar track.

The squeaky bum stuff? That comes in week two of September. Not now.

The forward line is better than most want to admit

I think the Dockers’ forward structure gets underrated in the national conversation, proably because we don’t see enough WA footy on free-to-air. Josh Treacy is becoming a genuine key forward presence — strong overhead, good at drawing free kicks, and improving his ground-level work every month. Michael Walters, when he hits a run of form, is one of the most exciting players in the comp. And Jye Serong — yeah, another Serong — is developing quietly into a reliable contributor.

The forward 50 isn’t yet at the terrifying level of the great Brisbane Lions teams or the Geelong sides of the late 2000s. But it doesn’t need to be. It needs to be effective enough to convert the inside-50 dominance that their midfield generates, and right now it is. Their score from inside-50 numbers have been strong all season.

The travel factor — a west coast man’s reminder

Here’s something the eastern-state media conveniently forgets every single season, regular as clockwork: West Australian clubs play a different competition to everyone else. I know, I know — I’ve said it a thousand times over here in the west, and nobody in Melbourne wants to hear it again. But it’s true.

Fremantle have to manage the travel burden all year. Cross-country flights for mid-week recoveries, early Sunday games that feel like Saturday night, the constant timezone dance. And yet they’re still putting in performances that have top-four written all over them. That’s not just good coaching — that’s a culture that has got conditioned to adversity.

Come September, when the games are played at the MCG or Marvel Stadium, the travel is what it is. But the resilience those road trips build? That’s free. And the Dockers have banked a lot of it.

What could still go wrong

I’m a realist. An Eagles tragic, sure, but a realist. There are a few things that could derail this Fremantle tilt.

• Fyfe’s fitness: When he’s right he still elevates the group. When he’s not, the midfield runs one less quality option in tight games.
• The key defensive unit: Alex Pearce has been solid, but if he picks up a knock in the back end of the season, their backline depth gets tested quickly.
• Pressure in finals: The Dockers haven’t deep in September as a group. First finals appearances at scale are a test of character that training can only partially replicate.

None of those are fatal concerns. But they’re real ones, and anyone writing a straight-line path to a premiership without acknowledging them is selling you something.

My call — from someone who’d rather be wrong

Honestly, it gives me no particular joy to say this. I would vastly prefer to be writing about a resurgent Eagles side making a run at the eight. That story, regretably, is not available to me right now.

What is available is this: Fremantle are the most convincing team in the west since Geelong’s second great dynasty convinced itself it was over, and they play hard, contested football that doesn’t rely on tricks or luck. They have the best midfielder in the competition. They have depth and structure. And they’re playing in a year where the competition — Brisbane, Carlton, the Giants — are all flawed enough to be beaten.

Do I think it’s Wharfie Time? I think it’s very nearly time to book the flights.

From one West Aussie to another — even the purple ones — don’t blow this.

— Bluey Mainwaring, West Coast Tragic and Reluctant Dockers Admirer, FootyTalk