Western Derby: Fremantle Dockers produce comprehensive 70-point victory over West Coast Eagles

There are a lot of sayings in footy which have been tried and true throughout the game’s history, but the one which summed up the western derby was that Fremantle were harder for longer.

The Dockers produced a dominant second half to blow the game apart and set up a 16.16 (112) to 6.6 (42) victory at Optus Stadium.

This was a game between the premierships favourites who are sitting on top of the ladder against a club that is re-building and in 16th spot. The 70-point margin told the tale.

Murphy Reid won the Glendinning-Allan Medal with 26 disposals and his brilliant second half summed up the contest.

West Coast would still have taken some positives from the way they competed in the first half. But the Dockers never relented.

Fremantle could have put the game to bed in the first quarter. They had 15 inside 50s to West Coast’s eight but just kept missing their shots. That brought a reminder of another tried and true saying - bad kicking is bad football.

The Eagles were giving Fremantle chances. Harley Reid gave away a free kick after a late bump on Matthew Johnson and that set up a goal for Pat Voss.

Elliot Yeo produced a horrible kick across the ground which was intercepted, but Michael Frederick missed when he played on quickly after taking a mark close to goal and he missed.

The Dockers missed repeatedly. It was eight shots at goal to four in the first quarter but West Coast nailed their chances.

The Eagles were brave when they got the footy and attacked with speed. That put Fremantle’s backmen under pressure and West Coast reaped the rewards.

West Coast led by one point at quarter time and took huge confidence into the break.

That confidence soared when they kicked the first goal of the second quarter. Now they had what we all know as scoreboard pressure.

Fremantle kept producing chances thogh and Jye Amiss kicked three goals for the quarter. The Dockers looked dangerous every time they started running, and their handball game threatened to take over the game.

Optus Stadium looked like the Kwinana Freeway when Fremantle got into space as they charged forward.

The Dockers took 11 marks inside 50 in the first half but continued to miss opportunities and West Coast kept competing.

Harley Reid had seven clearances in the first half. Marcus Herbert led the game for disposals with 20 touches.

They Eagles had held reigning Glendinning-Allan medallist Jordan Clark to four possessions, Josh Treacy to three and Shai Bolton to six.

Again, the scoreboard indicated Fremantle were on top because it was 15 scoring shots to seven. But games aren’t won with scoring shots. Matches are won by kicking goals and both teams had five goals at half-time.

That gave West Coast hope.

But when you’re the underdog, you can’t afford to make mistakes and the Eagles made a big one to start the third term.

Tom Cole slipped on the wing, turned the ball over and Fremantle charged forward again. Nathan O’Driscoll made them pay with a goal and it was the start that the Dockers wanted.

In contrast, when Frederick dropped a mark on the wing moments later, he recovered to force a stoppage. And when an errant handball from Fremantle gave West Coast a chance inside 50, the Docker defenders remained composed.

They won the ball back, switched the footy the outer side and Isaiah Dudley kicked truly.

There was nothing spectacular about the way the Dockers broke the game open. They simply turned little moments into big ones.

Then class prevailed. Murphy Reid had 10 touches in the first half without doing major damage. That totally changed as he took over.

His goal during the third term was everything fans love about his game. He set up others, then he kept running, then he got the ball back and then he finished. Here’s another footy saying - the cream always rises to the top.

Now, the Dockers weren’t missing and when Amiss kicked his fourth, the lead ballooned to 34 points.

Nothing summed up the change more than the next goal. Herbert had been good for a half. But he succumbed to the pressure from Frederick, he snapped the goal that he missed in the first term and now the Dockers were up by 40 points.

The only question now was the margin because the Dockers were in complete control. They kicked early goals in the final quarter to give the fans a chance to celebrate. The pressure was now on West Coast not to drop away.

Fremantle kicked 11 goals to one in a dominant second half. The gulf in experience and talent was clear. Fremantle won the first half by eight points. They won the second half by 62 points. They were harder for longer and a class above.