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The Fremantle Dockers have survived a late onslaught from the Sydney Swans to remain undefeated in the AFL for season 2015.
FREMANTLE 11 8 74
SYDNEY 8 12 60
In a game of two halves, Fremantle dominated the first, before Sydney came roaring back into the match in the second half.
Fremantle would kick the first three goals of the match and race to a 20 point lead on the back of Nathan Fyfe and Matthew Pavlich.
Just before quarter time, Sydney would kick their first goal through Lance Franklin, who reduced the margin to 14 points.
That would be the only goal of the half for the Swans as Fremantle pressured the Swans into mistakes.
One more goal before quarter time, and another five in the second quarter, gave them a 48 point lead at half time.
Sydney, with just nine points in the first half, would have their lowest half of football since 1997 when they played Carlton in Round 21.
They were beaten in almost every statistic as Fremantle dominated the contest.
Sydney had plenty of inside 50’s but the Fremantle defence rebounded extremely well.
When the teams returned for the second half, the polar opposite happened, as Sydney started to come back into the contest.
It started slow, with two points in the first four minutes, but gained momentum when Lewis Jetta kicked his first goal for the match with 12 minutes to go.
This reduced the margin to 40 points and was just 34 when Franklin kicked his second three minutes later.
Like Fremantle in the opening half, Sydney were able to restrict the Fremantle movement, and create a press that gave them the ball back to attack.
Two more goals in the quarter reduced the margin to 22 points with a couple of minutes left in the quarter.
By three quarter time, it was just 20 points, but could have been less if McGlynn and Bird converted their chances.
In the final quarter, the Swans came again, and reduced the margin to 3 points.
Two goals in the opening three minutes reduced the margin to eight as Tippett and Rohan kicked quick goals for the Swans.
Both teams then exchanged behinds as Fremantle looked for their first goal in the half.
They were able to extend the margin to nine points before a Sam Lloyd goal reduced the margin to 3 points with 11 minutes to go.
At that stage it looked like Sydney were going to come back from no-where and win the contest.
Nat Fyfe and Matthew Pavlich though had other ideas and steered the game back towards the hosts.
Pavlich would start it off with a goal with under ten minutes to go to give them a 10 point lead.
Fyfe would then continue it with valuable contributions, including a contender for mark of the year, to keep Sydney away from the goals.
When Mundy kicked a sealing goal with 50 seconds to go, the Dockers were home, and stay undefeated in the competition.
Sydney, as shown in the second half, dominated the stats but just couldn’t recover from the first half deficit.
They know they still have plenty on the table for when the two teams play later on in the season.
Sydney now play the Bulldogs at home in Round 5 with the Dockers facing Melbourne at the MCG on Sunday.
The final Anzac Day match could be one of the games of the season as two undefeated teams, the Fremantle Dockers and Sydney Swans, clash at Domain Stadium tonight. Join The Roar for a live blog of the match from 8:45pm AEST.
Taking away Adelaide’s fantastic start to the season – with them on top – this is a battle between two of the most impressive teams in the AFL season so far.
Despite almost losing to Essendon in Round 1, with a poor opening three quarters, Sydney have been unstoppable, beating the Power in Round 2, and their cross town rivals in GWS last week.
Led by Lance Franklin, who kicked 5 goals, they won by 21 points in a match that could have had a larger margin.
The Swans now travel to Perth to face the in-form team of the competition.
After they over ran Port Adelaide in Round 1, and smashed Geelong away from home in round 2, the Dockers were ruthless last weekend against the West Coast Eagles.
In one of the most complete quarters of football you will see the Dockers would kick nine goal to zero and lead by 52 points at quarter time.
At one stage in the match they led by 79 points, before the Eagles – to their credit – fought back to make the game respectable.
They are the best team – on form – in the competition and will be hard to beat at home.
In the last 32 matches Fremantle has played at Domain Stadium they have won 28 of them and only lost 4 matches.
When it comes to matches at home between the Dockers and Swans, Fremantle has had a rough end to the deal.
They have played in Sydney 18 times since 1996 and just 11 times in Perth.
In those matches at home Fremantle has won eight and lost only three times to the Swans.
It has been almost five years since the Swans won in Perth against Fremantle and they have lost five of their last six.
The last match, in 2013, will still give them nightmares as Fremantle suffocated the Swans in the first half of the preliminary final.
They conceded just two goals and won to book their first ever Grand Final appearance.
How Sydney handle Domian Stadium will be one of the fascinating battles today.
Both teams have made just one change to their squad for the match.
Tendai Mzungu – who was injured during pre-season – comes in for Hayden Crozier in the Dockers team.
Nick Smith replaces Dean Towers who was omitted for the Swans.
The match will be won in two areas tonight. The midfield, and the tall forwards and defenders of each team.
Winning the contested ball will be critical tonight in deciding the winner. Sydney have done better than Fremantle over the first three rounds in that area – with an average of 148 – and need to beat Fremantle to the ball to stop their run and carry.
The other key battle is in the forward line.
Stopping the key forwards for the opposition will be vital in winning the contest.
If Fremantle can stop Kurt Tippett and Lance Franklin then they should win the contest.
For Sydney the same applies to Zac Clarke, Matt Pavlich and Matt Taberner.
This match will be close between the two teams and it could come down to the last five minutes.
Home advantage is really important for Fremantle and I expect that to play a part in the match today.
When it counts it might give Fremantle the edge.
Prediction: Fremantle
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