Editor
The Greater Western Sydney Giants have come from 15 points down at the start of the final quarter to defeat the Fremantle Dockers by 12, lifting them to second on the ladder for the time being.
Final score
GWS Giants 13.20 98
Fremantle Dockers 13.8 86
The GWS Giants will be desperate to restore their premiership credentials when they host the Fremantle Dockers at Spotless Stadium. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 2:10pm (AEST).
Long touted as the team to beat in 2017, the last month has cast serious doubt as to whether Greater Western Sydney will be a force at all in September.
Two draws, followed by dispiriting losses to Sydney and Richmond, have seen the Giants slip to third on the ladder – with their spot in the top four altogether under legitimate threat.
Looking back further than the last month however, and one must wonder whether Leon Cameron’s men are in fact a top side, or whether they’ve been riding some serious luck all year that’s now starting to run dry.
Since round five, the Giants have won just one game by more than three goals – a 60-point win over Brisbane. Four of their 10 wins this season have come by fewer than 10 points.
Only a comfortable win over the Dockers today will see some of that doubt start to clear.
Fremantle also enter this contest in a form slump, although theirs is considerably more frightening.
After an encouraging 6-3 start to the season, the Dockers have fallen off a cliff, losing seven of their last eight games.
Had Todd Goldstein not shanked his fourth-quarter free kick three weeks ago, Ross Lyon’s charges would be winless since May.
Fremantle will be watching the finals on TV in 2017, but they’d be desperate to close out the year on some kind of high – and a boilover against the Giants could be just the fillip they’re looking for.
This will be just the second visit to Spotless Stadium Fremantle have made. They were the last team to make their debut at the venue when these sides clashed in Round 22 last year.
The Dockers’ 92-point loss in that clash makes them one of a whopping seven teams who have never won at the ground.
Prediction
Winning games has proven to be an unusually difficult task for these sides of late, but with so much more to play for and a decent home ground advantage, GWS should be the ones to arrest their slump.
Giants by 34 points
Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 2:10pm (AEST).