Roar Guru
St Kilda have defied inaccuracy, and a constant Fremantle who lead for much of the game, to stun the Dockers and win by nine points in a often heated match at Domain Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
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Final score
Fremantle Dockers 12.8.80
St Kilda Saints 12.17.89
The final game of Round 15 takes us to Perth, as the Fremantle Dockers desperately try to end their losing streak, against a St Kilda Saints side that are attempting to win in WA for the first time in seven games. Join us on The Roar for live scores and a blog from 4:40pm AEST.
If you’d have asked any footy fan what the result of last weekend’s Fremantle versus Geelong match would’ve been, a comfortable Geelong win would have probably been the consensus. Alas, it wasn’t to be.
Geelong won, but Freo’s resilience – sabotaged only by a Michael Walters miss in the dying seconds – surprised most, especially myself.
Coming after brutal losses to Adelaide, the Pies and – gasp – Brisbane! Bipolar is an apt word to describe this Freo team, then.
For the Saints, their Round 14 match was one of the less surprising matches of an outstanding round. A regulation victory against an injury-ridden Gold Coast outfit, moving them into the top eight and allowing them to sit relatively comfortable with eight wins and seven losses.
The haven’t been playing their best footy, though, which can be both a concern and a relief for fans, depending on how you look at it.
Nonetheless, finals, like with their Fremantle opponents, are a very possible – if not entirely realistic – proposition.
The midfield battle in this one should be a beauty, with Fremantle’s midfield of Fyfe, Neale et al heading up against the Saint’s equally decorated group.
Another player who the Dockers will have to be wary of is Jack Billings, who has become a star for the Saints in recent weeks.
For the home team, it’s Hayden Ballantyne who they’d want to continue his form he showed in his 2017 return match last week.
Fremantle has made numerous changes – most of them out of necessity – for today’s match.
Stephen Hill and Josh Deluca are out with a calf and ankle injuries respectively, while Shane Kersten has been dropped after a few poor weeks and impressive youngster Connor Blakely has been banished due to an club imposed suspension.
In their place, vital players Nat Fyfe and Aaron Sandilands are back into the side, while youngsters Brady Grey and Ethan Hughes also re-join the senior team.
Young ruckman Sean Darcy has been spared an axing, being paired with Sandilands and allowing Fremantle to return to their more traditional dual ruck set up for the match.
For St Kilda, there’s only the one change. Youngster Blake Acres has been omitted, being replaced by Jack Steele, who was himself dropped from the seniors a fortnight ago.
Prediction
This’ll be a closer game than most predict, I’m thinking. Fremantle will be buoyed by their previous performance in Victoria, while St Kilda are well and truly in the finals hunt and will be beyond excited to show their West Australian fans a victory.
St Kilda are the bookies favourites, but – bias notwithstanding – it’s Fremantle who are narrowly mine. I wouldn’t be surprised if this goes down to the final stages, though.
Fremantle by 7 points.