It was one of Melbourne’s darkest days while Fremantle announce itself as contenders

IT was a dark a day as any in Melbourne’s recent history, while across the Nullabor, Fremantle announced itself, writes Mark Robinson.

FOR 17 teams, it’s about effort.

For Melbourne, it’s about effort and skill and marking and kicking and handballs and running and thinking and breathing.

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Yes, they were that poor. As dark as any of the darkness which has engulfed this club in recent years.

The gulf between the haves and have nots - and it’s not about the money - was on display.

At the MCG, Greater Western Sydney took another significant step. They thrashed Melbourne with one player on the bench, two captains - Davis and Ward - off the ground and the desperately unlucky Jonathon Patton in hospital.

The Demons didn’t give a yelp against a wounded dog.

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The skill level was one thing, their inability to stop GWS running over them was more damning.

At Subiaco, Fremantle and Hawthorn played a brand of football seemingly foreign to the Demons.

Paul Roos doesn’t know what to say at three-quarter time. Picture: Colleen Petch.

In doing so, the Dockers announced themselves as genuine contenders.

Clearly the near-miss at Geelong the week before kick-started their late season and on Sunday they were rewarded for effort.

Two aspects of Fremantle’s performance stood out.

Their trademark pressure was intense and they kicked 17.8, their fourth highest score of the season and against one of the best defensive teams in the competition.

The third quarter was obscene.

They kicked 5.3 to 1.2 and four times forced the Hawks to kick ball out of bounds. Brian Lake’s was part skill error, the other three was because of the pressure Fremantle put on the opposition.

Matthew Pavlich kicked four goals after only kicking six in the past five weeks. One of them was from a set shot, the other four came from general play and snaps around the body. Suggestions Pavlich had lost agility were dispelled in one afternoon.

David Mundy tries to give Ryan Schoenmakers the slip.

Outside of Jordan Lewis (44 disposals), the Dockers won the midfield.

David Mundy showed his mettle after last week’s miss after the siren with sizzling clearance work, Michael Barlow had 30-plus, Michael Johnson played his best game in half a season, Crowley got Smith, Michael Walters was bubbly, Taberner looked more accomplished than at any time of his short career, and Stephen Hill settled - at least for now - the on-going debate about which brother is better.

Hill was devastating. He kicked three goals, one stemming from when he kicked the ball to Barlow from the wing and galloped by at least four Hawks opponents to get the ball back and kick accurately from 40m.

It took the score to 82-69 and the Dockers never like looked losing from that point on.

Stephen Hill was back to his damaging best for Fremantle.

If you missed it, try to get Hawthorn’s game review because Al Clarkson will surely play it.

Hill’s third goal came from a coast-to-coast advance in the final quarter which happens against the Hawks about twice a year.

The Dockers didn’t have Ballantyne and the Hawks were without Roughead, Rioli (if he gets back) and Sewell. But this wasn’t about who was missing, this was about Fremantle making a statement.

Their past two weeks is evidence enough they are back hunting, defending and running.

As for the Hawks, they looked slow, badly missed Jarryd Roughead and their 91 points was only a goal off their lowest score of the season.

Round 20 proved to be a reality check for a lot of teams.

Originally published as It was one of Melbourne’s darkest days while Fremantle announce itself as contenders