Fremantle head over to Crazy Clive Palmer country this weekend to play their first match against the Gold Coast at the White Shoe Arena. Fremantle never lost a game at Amusement Park (and yes, they have played there before) but are yet to get a crack at the Gold Coast on their home turf. They have been lucky enough to get one go at the Gold Coast at Subiaco, however, and the result was 50 points in favour of the Dockers.
The last time, first and only time the two sides have played each other was in Round 15, 2011. Fremantle was a buzz as the much anticipated cavalry started to meander back into the side and were in the second leg of their Queensland double after rolling the Lions a week earlier. No one was quite sure which direction Fremantle would go with the new side - a chance to rest players or a chance to build percentage. It turned out that Fremantle just don't like teams with Coast in their name.
They smashed the Suns both on the scoreboard and in the way they requires radical reconstructive surgery. It was a brutal second half with more Suns going down than late afternoon on Tatooine as the Dockers appeared to compete to see who could inflict the most damage.
The fleet footed, young and fit Suns gave the crippled Dockers some trouble in the first half, taking the half time lead with a late run of goals but, led by a young up and comer by the name of Matthew Pavlich (who according the stubby holders on sale for half price afterwards, was playing some sort of milestone game) Fremantle tore through the Suns in the second half with 10 goals to their 2 and stormed home for a well received 50 point win.
Greg Broughton had 32 touches for Fremantle and Gary Junior had 34 (35 touches if you include the consoling hug from his mum after the loss) for the Suns. Matthew Pavlich, Hayden Ballantyne and Tendai Mzungu all kicked 3 goals for the Dockers while Gary Junior continued hogging the ball up forward, kicking 3 goals for the Suns. Trent McKenzie kicked 2 goals and then sent around half a dozen abusive twitters after the game.
Despite the one sided affair, the umpires continued the trend of not giving Fremantle players Brownlow votes with Gary Junior picking up the top votes and Griffin and Pavlich getting what was left. The Clinton Wolf Medal was controversially not shrouded in controversy with the votes going to Broughton, Griffin and Pavlich.
Fremantle have been up to the Gold Coast once before. They played Carlton there in 2009 after the Kangaroos screwed everyone over on their relocation and the AFL was forced to come up with ridiculous fixtures to meet their contractual obligations. Fremantle appeared to love the join, kicking 10 goals in the first half before cruising in for a comfortable 7 point win.
The Gold Coast are yet to win a game this season and are operating at an average losing margin of around 9 goals. Last week they were rolled by the Kangaroos in Melbourne to the tune of 34 points, their second best effort for the year. They are currently 17th on the ladder.
Fremantle had a shock loss, albeit an injury depleted one, to 3rd placed Carlton last Friday night which pushed them out of the top 8 and into 9th spot on the ladder. An average sized win on the weekend could push them into the top 4.