The Fremantle Dockers have gotten the result they wanted to christen their new home ground, beating Collingwood by 13 points in front of 41,000.
The visiting Magpies appeared poised to spoil the party, after they leapt out of the blocks to kick the opening two goals of the game in as many minutes.
But the Dockers got their first through a long shot by Atkins shortly after, and that began a complete turnaround in the match.
Fremantle totally dominated the first quarter from that point on. A sublime goal from Dana Hooker and a slightly fortunate goal to Caulfield gave Freo a quarter-time lead that they never relinquished.
While Freo shifted from a running game to a more passing oriented strategy, the Pies didn’t seem to quite know exactly what they were trying to do, struggling to find targets and not troubling the scorers in the second term.
Collingwood did manage to keep the restrict the home team to just the one major to stay alive in the game, thanks in large part to a couple of heroic moments from Chloe Molloy.
The Dockers started the third term brightly, but for the first time in half a game the Pies began to wrest back a bit of control, getting some opportunities for the forwards and closing the margin to eight points.
But Freo were relentless, and continued to dominate territory with their up-tempo, aggressive play. They restored that three goal advantage by the last change, and when Dana Hooker kicked her second early in the final term it appeared to put the result out of the Pies’ reach.
While Collingwood kicked the last to make the margin appear a bit closer, in truth this was always Freo’s day. The Dockers ultimately ground out the win as both sides fought through fatigue on a hot Perth day.
A crowd of 41,000 – a record for women’s sport in Australia – turned up to watch the first AFL game at Optus Stadium, and the first AFLW game with an admission fee, albeit a small one. I imagine most of them would go home happy having seen a home team win.
Perry Bridge
Guest
Even with Perspex - the MCG is a pain on GF day with those shadows - - that's the main argument for a later start (twilight or night) - - you create a problem for which the resolution is a change that you wanted but since there was nothing 'broken' to be fixed - you create a breakage!!
Martin
Guest
Except that it would been an even higher attendance figure if the mystery surrounding the 12,000 no-show tickets is ever solved. Perhaps people bought more tickets than they needed, deliberately so as to suppress the potential crowd and knowing it was going to be a sellout event. It must be difficult for food caterers to plan for crowds which may or may not turn up.
AR
Guest
41,000 people chanting FREEEEOOO. Not bad.
anon
Roar Pro
How does that differ from Etihad games that start at 2:10pm. The roof fabric doesn't let through a lot of light -- hence the dark shadows yesterday. We'll see who is right come winter. I suspect they'll put the lights on for every day game.
Cat
Roar Guru
The men's teams that call it home probably won't fill it every week either. Neither filled Subi last year and that was a much smaller capacity.
Martin
Guest
With 18,000 empty seats at Optus Stadium yesterday, it would seem that a second team in WA is premature. I would like to see a consistent full house each fortnight before the Eagles introduce their women's team.
Cat
Roar Guru
Tried on my ipad mini, my 27" PC and my 40" bedroom tv. Every time the ball went from sun to shade it was like the lights were out, took a few seconds to be able to see detail again. Reminded me of the old days down at Kardinia Park before the light towers went in, if the game ran late or storm clouds obscured the Sun you had no hope of seeing.
Dalgety Carrington
Roar Guru
Funnily enough, I watched the live game and the replay and hadn't really noticed the shadows as an irritant until the talk on here. Just had a look at the highlights package on my phone and still don't think they're that bad for picking out what's going on. What sort of screen are you using?
Maggie
Guest
Yes the shadows were awful, I could barely make out play on the TV screen when the ball went into the shadow. Surely this will be a major problem for TV viewing of Test cricket?
Dalgety Carrington
Roar Guru
Well look-ee who's showed up at the mention of problems. There'll be a handful of games in April-May that kick off mid-afternoon that contrasting light may potentially be an issue. It's not likely to affect more than a quarter and a bit if it does. Docklands games that are most affected are the early 11am-12noon games (plus the roof at Optus Stadium is a soft fabric that let's diffused light through so maybe not as extreme as Docklands either), the earliest schedulled games this year at OS start at 1:45pm and they're in the depths of July & August.
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
Those combined figures for the Freo/Pies match look quite good. I'm not aware of what the ratings were last year, but were they higher than 100K?
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
Perhaps the stadium didn't fit lengthwise going north-south? It's prime real estate I'd image. Most elite sports are played at twilight/night now due to Tv rights, so I guess this problem is minimal for a facility like this.
Cat
Roar Guru
Yet still better than the competition
I ate pies
Guest
The MCG and Etihad are in half shadow regularly during afternoon games too; it’s no big deal. The problem is with players looking into the sun up the field. It’s got me stumped as to why the goals go east-west and not north-south, like most football grounds. Cricket pitches always go north-south too.
Dalgety Carrington
Roar Guru
Fitzroy is a great place to hang out in a pub.
Aligee
Guest
Brunswick St Oval or Vic Park would get the hipsters that live around those areas now on a Wednesday night, and the old traditionials that still live around the area for womens games. Close to fantastic eateries, pubs etc and should be a small economic blast midweek. Fox content midweek as well.
anon
Roar Pro
Ratings have fallen off a cliff for AFLW.
anon
Roar Pro
The shadows will be a big problem on sunny days much like it is at Etihad Stadium. The roof doesn't let enough light through. Generally stadiums will have a perspex roof on the side of the ground that where the sun sets. They'll have to put the lights on during day games otherwise it's too hard to watch on TV.
Dalgety Carrington
Roar Guru
Freo would be ok, they've got Cockburn all to themselves... I was thinking Thursday & Monday night games etc too, but it might take a little from the family audience they'd be after. As for the state league clubs, I'm sure extra income would be handy and they'd be motivated to work out some innovative solutions.
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
I'd suggest, at best, we'll see a shadow in the field of play for the first 10-20 minutes. Then again, I know @#@$ all about this stuff, just using common sense really. If it were my project, I'd have demanded this be the very maximum if any shadow at all. The stadium looked magnificent though. We are truly privileged as AFL fans to have stadia like Adelaide Oval, MCG, SCG and now Optus Stadium. Just awesome.