Fremantle pull off historic comeback to stun Western Bulldogs

Fremantle have just pulled off the second biggest comeback in AFL finals history to send the Western Bulldogs packing.

PERTH, AUSTRALIA - SEPTEMBER 03: Jye Amiss of the Dockers celebrates a goal with David Mundy, Heath Chapman and Hayden Young during the AFL First Elimination Final match between the Fremantle Dockers and the Western Bulldogs at Optus Stadium on September 03, 2022 in Perth, Australia. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

Fremantle have just done the unthinkable by taking down the Western Bulldogs in front of a record breaking crowd at Optus Stadium.

The Dockers were dead and buried halfway through the second quarter when they were down by 41 points. From that moment it was one-way traffic as they kicked 11 of the next 13 goals to romp home to the 11.7 (73) to 8.12 (60) victory.

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You could have heard a pin drop in the first half as the crowd sat watching on in stunned silence, by the final quarter it sounded like a rock concert inside the stadium as the Dockers came from the clouds.

The win makes it the second biggest finals comeback in the AFL era, second only to Essendon's 42-point turnaround against the Adelaide Crows during the 1993 elimination final.

The Dockers last played finals footy seven years ago and it looked to have been all going horribly wrong as the Bulldogs burst out of the blocks. It looked to be game set and match in the second quarter.

But somehow the Dockers found a pulse and in the final 10 minutes of the term they slammed home four goals to head into the halftime break only down by 15 points.

As the second half got underway the Dockers continued their charge as the Bulldogs looked shell shocked and simply couldn't respond to the onslaught that was unfolding in front of them.

Fremantle will now take on Collingwood next Saturday night at the MCG.

34 points is the biggest quarter-time deficit that Freo's ever come back to win from in any of their 339 games in WA#AFLFreoDogs #AFLFinals

— Chris Robinson (@CJKRobinson) September 3, 2022