Seven weeks ago, Fremantle were strong premiership favourites and this columnist thought they were a good chance to do what another Ross Lyon team – St Kilda – did five seasons ago and dominate the home-and-away season.
That year the Saints won their first 19 and lost just two home-and-away matches narrowly, before suffering a close defeat in the grand final at the hands of Geelong.
The Dockers’ first two victories in 2014 were just as emphatic, but they have had just two wins since and their season is on the line when they play Geelong at Subiaco Oval on Saturday.
As well as trying to stay in the eight, which looked a given at the start of the season, Fremantle has the added incentive of winning for their greatest ever player and one of the AFL’s greatest.
Matthew Pavlich plays game 300 and fittingly it’s at home. If ever the Dockers would want to perform well in a milestone, this is it.
Pav has won six best and fairests and seven All Australians and finished top three in the best and fairest for ten seasons in a row, as well as leading the goalkicking on numerous occasions.
This is his 15th year as a senior player for Fremantle and he has won some sort of end-of-season award in 13 of those 15 seasons.
The only two years he hasn’t featured was his debut season of 2000 when he started at Round 5 after a preseason illness, and last season where he finally succumbed to a long-term injury and incurred a three-game suspension and was restricted to 12 games.
If he plays a full season this year, it will again prove his durability and take his games average to 21 a season, which is incredible considering the Dockers travel every second week from one side of the country to another. The wear and tear associated with that schedule has cut many great players down earlier than they would have liked.
Former West Coast star and current Gold Coast coach Guy McKenna was careering towards 300 games within 14 seasons, but injuries took hold and he surprised many when he retired after the 2000 season with 267 games in 13 years.
His Eagles teammate, Glen Jackovich, was also injury free, but all that wear and tear forced him out after 276 games and 14 seasons. At one stage he was cruising to the magical 300 mark.
A current Eagle, Dean Cox, is well on the way, having played more than 270 games and more than 100 consecutively. But the long travel, despite the meticulous preparation and rehabilitation measures imposed by the Dockers and Eagles’ medical and fitness regimes, still takes it’s toll.
It’s a massive game for the Dockers this weekend. They have to win to reignite flagging premiership credentials on the back of a number of injuries and to recognise a wonderful milestone for the great one. Matthew Pavlich deserves nothing less than that.
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