Dockers hold on to winning feeling
Fremantle maintained their unbeaten status on top of the ladder with a hard-fought 11-point triumph over Adelaide at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night.
Dockers superstar Nat Fyfe and Crows counterpart Patrick Dangerfield went head-to-head in a classic duel as they willed on their respective sides.
It was Brownlow Medal favourite Fyfe who had the last laugh, guiding his side to a 10.8 (68) to 7.15 (57) win in front of 45,918 fans.
The result extended Fremantle’s winning streak to nine matches – matching the club record set between rounds 14-22 in 2006.
Fyfe had a career-best 40 possessions and a goal in yet another outstanding display.
Michael Walters kicked three goals for Fremantle and captain Matthew Pavlich booted two despite being well held by Daniel Talia for most of the night, while Aaron Sandilands was dominant in the ruck with a career-best 69 hit-outs.
Dangerfield was by far Adelaide’s best with 38 possessions and a goal.
Fremantle jumped out of the blocks, booting the first three goals of the match through David Mundy, Walters and Hayden Ballantyne to build a 17-point lead as Adelaide wasted set shots at the other end.
But the Crows clawed their way back as rain tumbled down, snatching the lead by quarter-time.
Fittingly in the AFL’s Indigenous Round, the home side’s first three majors came through Aboriginal goalsneaks Eddie Betts, Charlie Cameron and Cam Ellis-Yeolman.
Betts nailed Adelaide’s first with a superb checkside kick from deep in the forward pocket and had more tricks up his sleeve, adding a goal of the year contender as the Crows edged a tight second term.
Betts was trapped by three opponents near the junction of the boundary and 50m lines, but calmly assessed the situation and guided a left-foot torpedo through the big sticks to send the home crowd into rapture.
Fremantle skipper Pavlich was rarely sighted in the first half, restricted to just four disposals by Talia.
But after a brief stint in the centre square at the bounce, Pavlich marked and converted from 20m with his first kick of the match and added a second goal with a superb long set shot before three quarter-time.
Fremantle coach Ross Lyon made a tactical substitution early in the third term, replacing tall forward Matt Taberner with the fleet-footed Tom Sheridan in conditions not suited to the big men.
The teams went goal-for-goal during the third quarter and the lead changed hands three times, with Fremantle turning for home four points ahead as both Fyfe and Dangerfield took their games to another level.
The goals dried up in the final term as the Dockers dominated field position but found it hard to get reward for effort.
It took something special from Michael Barlow to break the drought at the 18-minute mark.
Hemmed in on the boundary, Barlow dodged around Luke Brown and gave Fremantle some breathing space with a superb finish.
It was enough to see the Dockers home as their defence held firm, keeping Adelaide goalless until the dying stages.
