In an historic first, Fremantle headed the the Gold Coast - Australia's capital for handing over large sums of cash in nondescript briefcases - to play the Suns. There was a bit of a carnival atmosphere to welcome the Dockers to Metricon Stadium; with bouncy castles, baby ducks and rabbits, carnival rides and face painting. The only thing missing was the Queensland branch of the Mucky Duck Bush Band.
It all brought a smile to the Fremantle players' faces. Not so much because watching Hayden Ballantyne and Lachie Neal set loose on bouncy castle is close to the eighth wonder of the world but because it's always a good sign when the opposition team's marketing department are pushing the face painting more than they're pushing the game of football.
But Ross Lyon was wary. He'd been t the Gold Coast before. He'd hit the nightclubs. He knew that although something may look good on the surface you can often be surprised by what's lurking, or hanging, down below. So, while others may have been sucked in by the antics going on around the ground and lured in to opening things up to try and kick a big, percentage boosting score, he was sticking to his guns. Slow and steady. Well, reasonably steady. ....more