Mastermind season review: Fremantle Dockers

After reaching the grand final for the first time last year, many expected Fremantle to go one better in 2014. But after finishing fourth and crashing out of the finals in straight sets, their premiership window might be closed.

Despite their early exit from September, it’s harsh to say the Dockers underachieved in 2014, given they finished with the double chance for the second consecutive year and also defeated the Geelong Cats and Hawthorn during the regular season.

However injuries to key defenders Luke McPharlin and Michael Johnson, as well as goal-sneak Hayden Ballantyne, conspired against them as their premiership dreams were blacked out by Port Adelaide in the semi-finals.

What else went wrong for the Dockers, and what were the highlights? Let’s carry out the post-mortem into Fremantle’s failed premiership bid.

Fremantle
Final ladder position: fourth (16 wins 6 losses, 130.4%)*
Rising Star nominees: Matt Taberner (Round 22)
Retirees/delistees: Kepler Bradley, Scott Gumbleton
* does not include their two finals losses.

What went right?
Once again Fremantle finished in the top four, but only by just. And they were able to achieve this with the oldest side in the AFL.

Speaking of which, they continued to expose the gulf between them and the two youngest sides in the AFL, the Gold Coast Suns and GWS Giants, with victories at home by margins of 48 and 76 points respectively.

Matt Taberner was the club’s only Rising Star nominee for the year, starring in the absence of Matthew Pavlich (who was a late withdrawal) in the Dockers’ 58-point win over the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba in Round 22.

With Pavlich set to retire sooner rather than later, Dockers fans may have already had a sneak peek of what the future could hold for them.

What went wrong?
While there were the highlights, there were also some lowlights including heavy losses to Hawthorn and St Kilda in Melbourne in Rounds 3 and 18 respectively, as well as injuries striking at the wrong time of the year.

Nat Fyfe copped two separate suspensions during the season, the first of which involved him choosing to bump, rather than tackle, the Gold Coast Suns’ Michael Rischitelli in Round 2, thus costing him eligibility for this year’s Brownlow Medal.

With injuries to Luke McPharlin, Michael Johnson and Hayden Ballantyne robbing the Dockers of some experience in the finals, it eventually conspired against them as they became the fourth club (and second in 2014 after the Geelong Cats) to waste their double chance in September, bowing out in straight sets.

Best win: Round 9 versus Geelong Cats at Patersons Stadium (won 13.18 (96) to 9.10 (64))
Of all of the Dockers’ victories in 2014, the one over the Geelong Cats at home in Round 9 ranks as the most special of them all.

Why? Because long-serving club stalwart Matthew Pavlich would mark two milestones – his 300th game, becoming the first player from either the West Coast Eagles or Fremantle to achieve this, in addition to kicking his 600th career goal.

And the Dockers celebrated the former milestone in the best possible way, keeping the Cats goalless in the first quarter en route to winning by 32 points. The man himself kicked three goals and Hayden Ballantyne pulled off possibly the play of the year with this goal after pulling the shorts of James Kelly:

The whole video is great, but check out 3:36 for the Ballantyne goal.

Worst loss: Round 18 versus St Kilda at Etihad Stadium (lost 9.6 (60) to 17.16 (118))
After eight-straight victories dating back to their win over the Geelong Cats at home in Round 9, the Dockers docked into Etihad Stadium in Round 18 with the chance to claim provisional first place on the ladder and further stake their claim to a top-two finish.

But all those hopes were dashed when the Dockers suffered a humiliating 58-point loss to a St Kilda side which had been largely uncompetitive throughout 2014 as it sought to rebuild under Alan Richardson.

The Dockers entered the match in second place as opposed to the Saints who were dead last on the ladder, but in four stunning quarters the roles would be reversed with the Saints playing like a champion side against the shell-shocked Dockers.

In the end it was to be this result, along with a narrow loss to the Geelong Cats in August, which would cost the club a top-two finish.

The future
After exiting September in straight sets, many will argue that Fremantle’s premiership window won’t remain open for any longer, and that it could shut sooner rather than later.

Club veterans Matthew Pavlich and Aaron Sandilands must surely be on their very last legs and with both on the wrong side of 30, time is running out for them to feature in the Dockers’ first premiership side.

Only two players (two ex-Bombers for that matter), Kepler Bradley and Scott Gumbleton, have announced their retirements with the latter never featuring for the Purple Haze after crossing from Windy Hill at the end of last year.

That said, the Dockers have not yet announced any delistings, though you would think that there will be a few as Ross Lyon looks to shape a side that can finally break through for the ultimate success in 2015.

The club has also entered the race to sign Melbourne’s James Frawley, and if he makes the decision to move west, he could be groomed as a replacement for Luke McPharlin, who will turn 33 in December.

With 2015 being the last season of Ross Lyon’s four-year contract which was signed in September 2011, he knows that it’s time to deliver the locals a long-awaited premiership.

Anything less and dare I say it, the Dockers will be on the lookout for a new coach for 2016.