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I’ve already talked about the Dockers’ spectacular collapse in season 2016.
After the first few rounds I anticipated the depth to which last season’s minor premier would sink – predicting, even before the dismal loss to Carlton, that Fremantle would win only three games this season.
What has not occurred to me until recently, though, is that the curse of the Dockers won’t be restricted to just one side. Sadly, the innocent will suffer with the guilty.
In Round 23 last year, with top spot stitched up, the Dockers made 11 changes to their team and fielded an obviously inadequate side against Port Adelaide. Port, who missed the finals that season, flogged Fremantle by 69 points.
The Dockers, no pun intended, had form in this regard. In 2013, Fremantle – with third place locked – had sent out the under 15s and were smashed by St Kilda, who finished 16th that season, by 71 points.
Clubs can field whatever 22 players from their list they see fit to select, but the spectacle was so unedifying the AFL felt moved to institute a one-week break at the end of the home-and-away season to discourage the practice.
Since throwing their game against Port Adelaide on September fifth, 2015, the Dockers have won four games: a scratchy nine-point win over Sydney at Subiaco after the Swans kicked 7.18, and this season beating the Essendon reserves + James Kelly, second-last Brisbane, and manic depressive Port Adelaide.
Fremantle brought the wrath of the gods of football down on their own heads – but, as Alastair Clarkson pointed out – the bye at the end of the home-and-away season affects the destiny of eight other teams.
The two top-four teams who win their first finals will go into their preliminary finals having played one game of football in the preceding four weeks. Fresh? More like under-cooked. Their opponents will have had a week off for recovery, and then two pressure games to reinforce their match hardness.
Sure, they’ll have the advantage of a home final (which is only an advantage if they’re facing a team from another state, of course), but haven’t they earned that?
Let’s say Geelong or Hawthorn win their first final and two weeks later face a Victorian team in Victoria in a prelim. No home advantage, and they’ve had three of the past four weeks off.
Is it even remotely fair that thanks to one or two teams (yes, North did it too) sending out their rezzies, top four teams that win their first final are potentially disadvantaged as a result?
The Curse of the Dockers is perhaps deserved for that team, but the AFL’s response to “excessive resting” could produce a manifestly unjust outcome for us all.
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