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With the Fremantle Dockers and West Coast Eagles sitting first and second on the ladder respectively, the stage has been set for what could be the biggest and most important Western Derby in the rivalry’s 21-year history.
In fact, it could even serve as a potential grand final preview, such is the consistent form both sides have shown this season. The Dockers have enjoyed the view from the top of the ladder since Round 4 while the Eagles have emerged as premiership contenders under second-year coach Adam Simpson.
Fremantle have proven the doubters wrong in 2015, winning their first nine games before losing to Richmond at home in Round 10.
The Dockers’ only other loss for the year was a heavy 12-goal thrashing by bogey side Hawthorn in Launceston in Round 15, a result which just seems to keep repeating for the Dockers whenever they play the Hawks anywhere.
However, the Dockers have bounced back to win their last four matches, with their most recent outing seeing the club put on a superb first half en route to a 37-point win over St Kilda at Etihad Stadium last Sunday night.
Currently sitting on 16 wins for the season, the Dockers can break new ground on three fronts with victory over their more successful Western Australia neighbours, the West Coast Eagles, at Domain Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The first is that while this is the third consecutive season in which they have won at least 16 games, no other Fremantle side has won more. Thus, the 2015 squad have the potential to record the club’s most successful regular season ever with a 17th win for the season.
The second is that, currently ten points clear of the Eagles in top spot, the Dockers can all but wrap up the minor premiership, with matches against North Melbourne, Melbourne and Port Adelaide still to come in the run home.
The third is that the Dockers can draw level with the Eagles on 21 Derby wins apiece, this Sunday’s edition being the 42nd Western Derby since the first one was contested way back in Round 7, 1995.
It would be quite an amazing feat given the Eagles, who were the defending premiers in the year Fremantle entered the competition, won the first nine Derbies in a row before the Dockers were able to break through in Round 16, 1999.
Since then the Dockers have won 20 of the last 32 Western Derbies including a string of seven in a row between Round 18, 2007 and Round 18, 2010. This coincided with the Eagles’ slide down the ladder after they had won their third flag in 2006.
Currently on a six-Derby winning streak, the Dockers can equal that same record with a win on Sunday in a result that, as already mentioned above, could go a long way towards securing their first ever minor premiership.
The Eagles, meanwhile, dropped off the pace in the battle for top spot after going down to Hawthorn at home last week, that coming seven days after they were held to a draw by the lowly Gold Coast Suns at Metricon Stadium.
Prior to their past fortnight, the Eagles had been in red hot form, defying a horror injury toll to win 12 of 13 matches between Rounds 4 and 17 after going down to the Dockers by 30 points in the first Western Derby for the year in Round 3.
That loss came after the Eagles conceded the first eleven goals of the match and trailed by as much as 79 points before they added some respectability to the scoreboard, cutting the final margin down to five goals.
Their only two other losses were against the Western Bulldogs in Round 1 and North Melbourne in Round 10, while as mentioned before they had a draw with the Gold Coast Suns in Round 18.
The Eagles’ improved form this season has been largely attributed to the good form shown by reigning Brownlow Medallist Matt Priddis, as well as that of Jeremy McGovern in an injury-plagued defence and Coleman Medal leader Josh Kennedy.
It comes to show that they aren’t just “flat track bullies”, as was suggested last year when they dominated the weaker clubs yet failed to defeat any of the teams ranked above them.
However, they do have three wins against top-eight opposition this season, those of the Sydney Swans (currently fifth), Richmond (seventh) and the Geelong Cats (eighth, but albeit while the Cats were struggling earlier in the season).
This Sunday’s clash against Fremantle will present Adam Simpson’s men another chance to improve its record against top-eight opposition, and as a matter of fact the Dockers just happen to be the only club that are above them on the ladder.
The Eagles will be hoping for a much better start to the match after the earlier Derby in Round 3 saw the Dockers kick the first eleven goals of the game en route to a 30-point victory and left the Eagles with a 1-2 record to start the season.
Since then, however, the Eagles have soared to second on the ladder and simply must win if they are to not only close the gap on the Dockers, who are currently two-and-a-half games clear on top of the ladder, but also skip clear of third-placed Hawthorn in the race for second.
The Hawks’ win over the Eagles last Saturday night drew them to within half a game of their vanquished opponents on the ladder. It is expected that they will defeat the Geelong Cats at the MCG this Saturday night, and so the pressure will be on the Eagles to cling onto second place.
They will have to face the Dockers without three of their key players, with Mark LeCras (suspended), Jeremy McGovern (hamstring injury) and Nic Naitanui (compassionate leave) all to miss the clash.
By contrast, the Dockers should get Nat Fyfe back after he missed the last two matches due to a groin injury, but they have lost Luke McPharlin to a calf injury suffered in their 37-point win over St Kilda at Etihad Stadium last week.
Therefore, Ross Lyon’s men will head into the match as hot favourites to not only level the Western Derby rivalry at 21 wins apiece, but also almost certainly lock up the minor premiership and show who’s clearly the best in the west.
And finally, don’t be surprised if the two clubs do meet at some stage in the finals. If they do meet in the big one on Saturday, October 3, then WA footy fans will have a lot to be excited about.
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