Fremantle overcame the early loss of skipper Matthew Pavlich to post a gutsy five-point win over Carlton in Thursday night’s AFL clash at Patersons Stadium.
The Blues led by two points with less than four minutes remaining when a 50m penalty against Dockers defender Zac Dawson gifted Jarrad Waite his third goal.
But, with less than a minute remaining and the Dockers deep in attack, a poor clearance from Carlton ruckman Cameron Wood fell into the arms of Dockers youngster Lachie Neale just 30m out from goal.
Neale made no mistake with the finish, nailing the set shot to lift Fremantle to the 12.11 (83) to 11.12 (78) triumph in front of 35,401 fans.
The win lifts Fremantle up to third spot on the table, but they might slip back to fourth by the end of the round.
Importantly, the result keeps them in touch with pacesetters Hawthorn, Sydney and Geelong.
Fremantle lost Pavlich early in the second quarter after the skipper copped an accidental elbow to the face while tackling Carlton’s Nick Graham.
Just 12 days earlier, Pavlich had been dealt another heavy blow to the face when he was cleaned up in a marking contest in the shock loss to St Kilda.
The Dockers were also without Tendai Mzungu for most of the match after the utility injured his hamstring in the second quarter.
Fremantle goalsneak Hayden Ballantyne (three goals) finished with a flurry, but the star of the night was Nat Fyfe, who had 28 possessions, two goals and 13 clearances.
Fyfe racked up five clearances in the pulsating final term as the game went down to the wire.
Dockers tagger Ryan Crowley and Blues skipper Marc Murphy could come under scrutiny from the match review panel for a series of skirmishes throughout the contest.
And Blues defender Bryce Gibbs could also be in trouble for his needless elbow to the back of Ballantyne’s head as the pair fell to the ground in a marking contest.
Carlton midfielder Chris Judd was magnificent in the first half.
But Judd’s influence was limited from then on after 120kg Fremantle ruckman Aaron Sandilands landed on his ankle in the opening seconds of the third quarter.
Fremantle had spent the past 12 days stewing over their shock 58-point loss to St Kilda, but they still seemed a touch off the ball during a free-flowing opening term.
Judd carved up the Dockers through the middle with nine disposals and a goal, while Murphy’s freak goal from the boundary line also had the visitors daring to dream of an upset.
But the class of Fyfe, who booted two goals for the term, ensured Fremantle entered the first break with a five-point lead.
Goals were hard to come by in a ferocious second quarter, with bruising tackles and desperate lunges the feature.
The Blues dominated the third quarter, but late goals to Ballantyne and Michael Barlow kept Fremantle in the contest.
And in a thrilling final quarter in which the lead changed three times, it was the Dockers who had the last laugh despite being two men down on the interchange bench.
“Coming off last week’s game I was really seething and pretty keen to go forward and put in a good performance tonight,” Fyfe told Channel 7 after the match.
Fremantle coach Ross Lyon said he was relieved to get the win.
“We were down to 20 men on the biggest ground in Australia against a team that was running well,” Lyon said.
“We had some terrible turnovers in our defensive 50m.
“I just thought we were over finessing, and mucking around down there hurt us.
“I thought Judd was terrific early. He’s a great leader, a great player. Our ability to handle him early wasn’t great.”
Carlton coach Mick Malthouse praised Judd’s effort to play on through injury, but said his side lacked composure under pressure at times.
“You don’t win games when you make more mistakes than the opposition. I don’t get too excited about any loss,” Malthouse said.
Macca
Guest
Don Freo - Here are the Coaches award votes for the Carlton Freo game - Fremantle v Carlton 10 Nat Fyfe (Frem) 6 Chris Judd (Carl) 4 Kade Simpson (Carl) 3 Marc Murphy (Carl) 3 Dale Thomas (Carl) 2 Jarrad Waite (Carl) 1 Michael Barlow (Frem) 1 Aaron Sandilands (Frem You will note that Murphy gets 3 votes and Waite gets 2.
Macca
Guest
Just to correct the record it was the Collingwood game not the Geelong game Curnow made his error.
Macca
Guest
You also have to factor in conditions (ie the slop some of the VFL games have been played in this year) I suppose my point would be that like most stats it isn't perfect and has to be taken in conjunction with other stats to build a decent picture. I would suggest you never look at DE without looking at contested to uncontested possession rates and clearance and clanger figures for a start.
Cat
Roar Guru
DE is a great stat, you just need to use it properly, either compare two like players (don't compare an inside ball winner to an outside ball receiver) or use it to compare games by the same player. If a player typically has a DE of 60% but in a selected game drops down to 50% or excells to 80% thats worth looking into. DE isn't perfect but it is equally flawed for all players as long as you don't select too limited a pool (ie: if a player has a 5 possession game the margin of error for DE is higher than if it was a 40 possession game or over multiple games).
Macca
Guest
Dalgety - I am not a big fan of DE either but I think it generally errs on the side of being too low in that players winning clearances and contested ball are penalised for quick hurried kicks forward that are to the teams advantage but just not to the advantage of any specific player - in this instance Curnow got more contested than uncontesed possession and still got a very good DE and only 1 clanger compared with 6 clangers for Crowley (a game high). And yes Curnow made an error that iced the game for the cats but you need to find more than 1 to make it "constant" - I am not saying he is a great user but I think people make too much of his "butchering" of the ball. And since you have been watching him how many opponents have got the best of him? Certainly not in the Geelong game.
Dalgety Carrington
Guest
The stat I have least faith in is disposal efficiency. Like so many of the stats you like to use they give no context. I'm sure you could find any number of players with a higher disposal efficiency than Fyfe on Thursday for example. But since you've been making grand claims for Curnow's brilliance Macca I've been watching him closely and he makes constant and critical turnovers. Was it against Geelong where he virtually cost you any chance of winning the game?
Macca
Guest
Dalgety - On Thursday night Curnow had 8 contested possessions and 6 uncontested and went at 85.7% disposal efficiency with just 1 clanger - I dont' see what is wrong with the quality of those possessions. By the way Crowley had 5 contested and 6 uncontested and went at just 54.5% DE with 6 clangers.
Dalgety Carrington
Guest
The quality of young Ed Curnow's possessions are such that a true Carlton fan would prefer he get less of the ball, not more.
Macca
Guest
Don Freo - just checked the stats, Hill had 6 possessions in the last quarter (after 5, 0 & 3) while Murphy had 5.
Balthazar
Guest
Apology accepted and I am trying not to nitpick but there have been some issues in that game that have been somewhat glossed over in the media reports. Umpiring for one but I have bleated enough about that and Ross has said the club will take it up with the AFL, so we move on. The loss of Pav and Gu early meant that Freo didn't have the fresh legs that Carlton did. And Freo had, what, 6 or 7 players that had just resumed from injury/suspension (each of Macca, Johnson, de Boer and Hill having been out for a few weeks). When I say just resumed, I acknowledge that Macca and Jonno had played a game or two beforehand but it is not ideal to have 4 weeks out, play one game , have a bye and then play the next. Watching the last quarter again over the weekend, I actually thought there were some good signs and Freo took control of the game, which is why it doesn't appear lucky to me. I think all these players, especially Hill and the defenders, will be better for the run.
Peter Baudinette
Roar Guru
Balt, my apologies for not being pin point accurate on the time lapsed from a game that was 4 nights ago. My recollection was that after the goal was kicked and the ball went back to the middle, there wasn't long left. Certainly long enough for a Carlton goal. The fact it was 38sec as you point out jogs the old memory and reiterates why I said dying seconds. Cheers. It doesn't change the fact that prior to the Wood incident, Carlton were leading. I still found it a lucky occurrence for Freo. Lucky also in the context that Freo were/are top four, coming off a massive loss to the bottom team and again playing unconvincing footy against a bottom 8 side. A quality top four side should have destroyed Carlton in the same vein as (I loathe to use the example) the Swans a couple I weeks earlier. My opinion is still the same, they were lucky to win it and have a lot of work to do to beat the Cats. Perhaps news just in that Stevie J is facing a week out could be useful to their cause.
Balthazar
Guest
Well, see that's you mistake. It wasn't the dying seconds it was a minute and a half from the end. Even if Carlton had scrambled the kick out of there, Freo had controlled the final 15 or so minutes, so chances are it would have just come straight back in. After all, Ibbotson had markedfrom a similar position less than a minute earlier. When the ball was bounced in the centre there was still 38 seconds on the clock. More than enough time if Carlton was good enough.
Peter Baudinette
Roar Guru
You could mate but Carlton didn't snatch the game in the dying seconds did they.... The result was determined after the Wood incident and my thoughts are that was very lucky. Just as it was very unlucky that poor Wood didn't get more on the kick and clear it from that zone.
Dalgety Carrington
Guest
I'd go as far to say a fair portion of the form dip has been due to bringing back key players who still need to find their feet. Unfortunately getting top level weeks into Walters before the finals is crucial and may force their hand on timing.
Macca
Guest
Dalgety - Finally!!! From the moment Fyfe took that mark I have been waiting for the response but it took what close to 90 hours! Yeah pretty good grab, Fyfe's speed hadn't got any seperation though! ;) Also one of the commentators suggested at 3/4 time Freo should shift Fyfe to Full forward for the last quarter - if they had the blues would have won for sure. I would say it was another example of some pretty good kicking into forward 50 to the forwards advantage by Freo all night.
Dalgety Carrington
Guest
Hey Macca did you see when Fyfe monstered Sam Rowe to take that mark 15m out directly in front? Rowe's extra cms and kegs couldn't save him.
Macca
Guest
Gene - Don is already in a very committed s-xual relationsip with himself - I could never compete.
Cat
Roar Guru
macca and Don Freo you two should get a room and get rid of the s*xual tension between you two already.
Don Freo
Guest
Don't under estimate the value of game time into Johnson, McPharlin, Hill, De Boer...and the absence of Pav and Mzungu and subsequent rotations. The game time into the returning players will pay off exponentially. Good to have a footy discussion.
Macca
Guest
And again another brilliant piece of football analysis that doesn't play the man at all. I can't believe that such a benign post as clarifying exaclty how long the Blues were in front, which was the subject that was under discussion by you and Natalie has cuased such an obstinant response from you - did Freo's poor performance and them slipping further behind the top 2 really get you that cranky?