Just when it appeared like Fremantle were unbeatable, the Dockers were brought back to earth with a thud. On one of the toughest stages in the game, Richmond got the chocolates last Friday night at Domain Stadium, on the back of a first-quarter onslaught that stopped the football world dead in its tracks. The Tigers kicked eight goals to one in the opening 20 minutes to stun Ross Lyon and his Dockers. For a side ranked second for points against across the opening ten rounds, with a concession of just 65.5 points per game, eight straight majors before time on in the opening term was stunning in every sense of the word. Fremantle did fight back after the main break, but as Lyon surmised in his post-mortem, Richmond were too good on the night and there was no excuse for the purple haze’s performance.
 
In the opening two and a half months of 2015, Fremantle’s oversized midfield has established itself as one of the best in the business. In a bygone era, six foot three inch footballers were ruckmen or big bustling key forwards capable of breaking the 100-goal barrier. In today’s game, they are simply Lyon’s soldiers and the envy of all other coaches in the game. Nat Fyfe has emerged as the undisputed premier player in the competition. There is no need to delve too deep into his performances this season. The fact that one bookmaker has already paid out on the dynamic superstar for the Brownlow medal is all you need to know about his start to the season. David Mundy and Michael Barlow are two other components of the big-bodied brigade. Both wouldn’t look out of place on a country ground across the country on any given Saturday afternoon. Instead they play pivotal roles for the Dockers, complementing the likes of Lachie Neale, Stephen Hill and Danyle Pearce who cut apart opposition sides with their pace and ball use.
 
On Saturday afternoon at Metricon Stadium, arguably the poster boy of the ‘Moneyball’ concept, Michael Barlow, registers game No. 100. Not many players have burst onto the scene like the VFL product did back in 2010 before breaking his leg in a sickening collision that prevented him from potentially vying for a Brownlow medal that year. He wasn’t quite the pioneer of mature-aged recruits, but after being overlooked in a couple of drafts and having his dream turned down by St Kilda and Essendon after trialling with them, Barlow has turned into a fantasy football god – especially in his maiden season where he accumulated leather like a shoe shiner in the Sherlock Holmes London era. His debut entered football folklore in the West after he gathered a staggering 33 possessions. Barlow would record six 30-plus hauls in his first 13 games before that collision with Rhys Palmer resulted in a clean break in both his tibia and fibula bones. In 2015, the Shepparton product has played a more specific role, averaging 23.6 disposals as part of a well-oiled machine in the Dockers engine room.
 
An area of concern for the Dockers in the immediate short-term is their availability of key defenders. Or lack thereof. With Michael Johnson suffering another serious soft tissue injury – this time a hamstring strain – Fremantle are particularly thin down back. Zac Dawson (broken thumb) and Alex Silvagni (hamstring) are still unavailable for at least the next month, so Lyon has been forced to rush the inexperienced Alex Pearce into the 22 to travel to the Gold Coast. Pearce has not played since round seven due to back bruising, but given their state of injury affairs, and the reality they would prefer to play Matt Taberner in attack than down back, the Dockers have little choice. Given Charlie Dixon is set to return to support Tom Lynch, Luke McPharlin will need some support in the form of the two-gamer in Pearce. Lee Spurr was omitted for the Richmond game, but Lyon said in his post-match press conference that the tough defender would come straight back into the side to face the SUNS, and that is precisely what has occurred at the selection table.

Key Players

To say Nat Fyfe has taken the football landscape by storm in the opening half of the season wouldn’t do his feats justice. His deep bag of tricks and rare balance of inside and outside brilliance has seen him ascend to the top of the mountain in almost all experts notebooks. After ten weeks, Fyfe is averaging an incredible 31.5 possessions per game (ranked 3rd in the league), 19.2 contested possessions (ranked 1st by 4.0 per game) 8.7 clearances (ranked 1st), 5.7 inside 50s (ranked equal 4th), as well as booting 11 goals. Complete package? Clearly. Fyfe’s history of dabbling in the dark arts has prevented him from taking home a Charlie before – think of his hit on Hawthorn’s Jordan Lewis off the ball last year and his clash with Michael Rischitelli earlier in the same year. And it could be the only thing standing between him and winning the league’s most coveted individual accolade. The two-time Doig medallist is almost impossible to quell given his diverse game, so it may leave a severely undermanned and undersized Gold Coast midfield at his mercy. Beware of this artist on a grass paddock.
 
He is arguably one of the most influential players in the game, but in 2015 he has garnered minimal fanfare, going about business as he as for the better part of a decade. Aaron Sandilands poses an enormous challenge for in-form Gold Coast ruckman Tom Nicholls, arguably his biggest assignment to date. The Fremantle goliath was at his clinical best last weekend, recording a new league record for hitouts to advantage with a staggering 23. He provides his fleet of first-class midfielders with Rolls Royce style service at the best of times, but last Friday night was a master class against Richmond’s Ivan Maric. After ten rounds, Sandilands is ranked second in the league for average hitouts with 39.9 per game and his influence has been profound on Lyon’s side, particularly a fortnight ago when he registered another AFL record, this time for total hitouts with a whopping 69 hitouts against the Crows. The four-time All Australian quashed any chance of taking up a big money offer at a rival club by re-signing with the Dockers for 2016 earlier this week.
 
With an abundance of pure class and football brilliance sitting at the petrol pump in the Dockers engine room, one player who has gone under the radar is Lachie Neale. After being taken with pick No. 58 in the 2011 national draft, the 176cm onballer has quickly emerged as an absolute bargain recruit. Neale didn’t burst onto the scene like Barlow or dazzle like Fyfe, but he has become an important element of a purple midfield that is arguably the finest in the game. His round three Ross Glendinning medal winning performance – the second in his career – in the derby will be talked about for as long as football is played in the West. Neale did as he pleased against the Eagles, collecting 42 possessions and three goals in a dominant display. In the opening ten rounds of the year, Neale is averaging 27.1 disposals, 5.9 clearances and 3.6 tackles per outing to highlight his contribution. Time and time again, opposition attention focuses on Fyfe and Mundy, or stopping the outside class of Hill or Pearce. That’s when Neale bobs up and pays his way.

Recent Results

Rd. 10 Fremantle 10.10 (70) def by Richmond 15.7 (97) @ Domain Stadium
Rd. 9 Fremantle 10.8 (68) def Adelaide 7.15 (57) @ Adelaide Oval
Rd. 8 Fremantle 17.13 (115) def North Melbourne 5.12 (42) @ Domain Stadium
Rd. 7 Fremantle 15.11 (101) def Western Bulldogs 14.4 (88) @ Etihad Stadium