Fremantle Round 4: Why win over Western Bulldogs proves Dockers can win close games

If the Dockers of 12 months ago had been playing the final term against the Bulldogs, they’d have rolled over. But the win proves the 2025 Fremantle side is ‘full of grit’, writes Eliza Reilly.

This was a significant win on two fronts.

The first is that Fremantle finally won a close one.

The second is the Dockers showed us the sort of football they’re capable of when they can generate fast ball movement from their back half.

It didn’t all go Fremantle’s way against the Western Bulldogs.

The Dockers lost Luke Jackson to a suspected hamstring injury just before three-quarter time. Nathan O’Driscoll tried to push on after twisting his ankle but was proppy. Corey Wagner pinged the calf that kept him out of the western derby. And Fremantle had to fight through the dying stages of the final quarter with just one rotation left.

But that tells us the 2025 edition of the Dockers are full of grit.

Had this game been played 12 months ago, there’s every chance Fremantle would’ve rolled over.

Instead, they showed us they’re the product of past capitulations.

Before a magical Sunday afternoon at Optus Stadium, the Dockers were 1-6 in games decided by less than 12 points since the start of 2024.

The Dockers of 2024 wouldn’t have finished Sunday’s game singing the song. Picture: Daniel Carson/AFL Photos via Getty Images.

This contest was decided by 16 points after Murphy Reid kicked Fremantle’s one and only goal of the final quarter with less than a minute to play. But still, the tension was palpable when the Bulldogs kicked the first two goals of the final term.

In response, the Dockers locked down. They forced the ball wide, defended like their lives depended on it and got to work around the contest.

Throughout the pre-season, we’ve seen Fremantle’s coaches alter the scoreboard during match simulation to replicate close finishes. After all that work and planning, a three-point loss to Sydney in round two would have shaken the Dockers belief.

But after absorbing everything the Bulldogs threw at them, the Dockers wound up for one last punch.

Jordan Clark said close finishes were something the Dockers had worked on over summer. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images.

“You need to be in those moments to actually learn and improve and grow that part of your game,” defender Jordan Clark told this masthead post-game.

“It’s something we’ve trained all summer.

“It was far from perfect but we’ve made so many little improvements and they paid off in spades. We’ve got to consistently do it though.

“Hopefully we cannot be in that situation again and we can blow teams away. But you’ve just gotta win those games and we did.

“It feels so worth it when you go through those bad times to come out the other end.”

The contest was played at two distinct speeds.

The first half was frenetic. The second half placed greater value on the contest.

At quarter time, the Bulldogs were dominating several key statistical indicators. They led inside 50s 18-8, disposals 117-68 and handballs 52-33. It looked like a Western Bulldogs game and Freo had no right to be in it.

“It was certainly quick in the first quarter,” Clark said. “I said to a few boys ‘If it’s like that the whole game I’ll be amazed.’ It was the fastest quarter of footy I reckon I’ve ever played.”

In the second quarter, momentum swung violently.

Fremantle kicked six unanswered goals in a scintillating blitz.

According to Champion Data, Fremantle is ranked 18th in the competition for ball movement speed and 15th for scores per inside 50.

Against the Bulldogs, the Dockers were able to transition the footy from end-to-end with ferocity.

Josh Treacy kicked the easiest of goals after Brennan Cox booted the ball long from a kick-in and the Dockers chained it quickly by hand up the wing.

Clark heaved the ball long and deep inside 50 and Isaiah Dudley got on the end of it.

Isaiah Dudley gets out the back

Heath Chapman switched the ball inboard from half-back and the Dockers attacked the corridor before Shai Bolton ultimately missed.

But the flurry resulted in the equal highest first-half score under Justin Longmuir, even if the coach himself took a swipe at critics of his game plan post-match.

“Every time we lose a game of footy, everyone wants to jump all over our ball movement,” he said. “It’s staggering. But our ball movement kept us in the game that quarter.

“It shows maturity in our game. A couple areas aren’t going the way we want it to, our ball movement will stand up in those moments.”

Clark too suggested it was execution, not method that produced Fremantle’s second quarter frenzy.

“Often people talk about sexy ball movement,” he said. “We’re big believers in our system and the way we play.

“We want to get the ball forward, lock it in and support that with a very good defence. When we’re at our best, teams find it very hard to score and move the ball against us.

“It just took us a little while to adjust to how we actually wanted to play. Once we got the game on our terms and took away their strengths, we were able to snuff that out pretty quickly.

“The second quarter was an improvement. We feel like our footy is in a good spot. We’re nowhere near perfect but we’re moving in the right direction.”

It was enough to give Fremantle a 32-point buffer at the main break. When clearances and contested footy were at a premium in the second half, the Dockers more than held their own. And just to top it off, Hayden Young and Sean Darcy got through their WAFL returns unscathed.

Whatever happened in that second quarter, fans will want to see more of it.

Originally published as Fremantle Round 4: Why win over Western Bulldogs proves Dockers can win close games