Fremantle got their revenge on the Suns yesterday with a dominant 51-point victory to chalk up their fourteenth win in a row.

The side kept Gold Coast to a poor three goals in four quarters, and it was the Dockers’ ability to damage off turnover and use space to transition the football which exposed the Suns.

Michael Frederick started hot with three quick goals for the Dockers before a stagnant second quarter saw Ben King boot Gold Coast’s first major and Fremantle kept goalless for the term.

The second half of the game broke open and the Suns struggled to keep up with the pace of Freo’s ball movement in transition.

Despite Gold Coast dominating the clearance game, the Dockers played well on the outside and forced eleven more turnovers, using the fat side of the ground well and gaining meterage away from congestion.

Jarrod Witts and Ned Moyle beat Fremantle’s formidable ruck duo with regards to hit outs, but it was the Luke Jackson and Sean Darcy’s ability to have impact outside of the ruck contest which let the Suns down – Jackson kicked two goals while Darcy kicked his first AFL goal since round 3 this year.

Former AFL assistant coach Michael Broadbridge joined Sports Breakfast this morning.

“Fremantle dominated just about every category other than the clearance numbers. It wasn’t really a score for the clearance game, it was a turnover game, and Gold Coast made too many critical turnovers,” he said.

“Gold Coast were caught napping. To their credit, in the second quarter they made a few adjustments and actually gave themselves a chance at getting back into the game.

“The problem was they only kicked one goal themselves, so they denied Fremantle a goal in the second quarter – four goals to one at half time – but then the flood gates just opened up in the second half.”

Despite having an exceptional midfield on paper, the Suns have been rather disappointing after a coming-of-age season last year which saw them beat Freo to win their first ever finals match as a club.

Many pundits had Gold Coast finishing top four this year and doing damage in the finals, but this result sees the Suns fall out of the top 10 for the first time this season after their fifth straight loss.

Touk Miller’s gut running effort yesterday was impressive and Noah Anderson notched up 33 touches, but overall they were outworked by Fremantle with Andy Brayshaw and Murphy Reid having 29 and 28 touches among some other fantastic efforts from Shai Bolton and Karl Worner.

“The problem with Gold Coast is that they haven’t been able to generate any momentum in their existence really.”

“I tipped them to be a big improvement this year as did many other pundits in football given their recruiting and their midfield brilliance that we saw last year – and that’s been an extreme disappointment [this year].”

After taking the reins at Gold Coast in 2024, Damien Hardwick’s chaotic style of football that he implemented within Richmond’s triple premiership team might not be suitable to his Suns side.

Gold coast have time and time again been exposed off their turnover game this season, and an adjustment might be what the side needs.

“It clearly works – forward hand balls and really going hard off turnover and being prepared to run and stun – but I think Gold coast at the moment, they’ve been too reliant on that and that can really be brilliant but it can also let you down off turnover and you can get scored on really heavily.”

“I think they need to reassess where they’re at in terms of how they play and then they’ve got to stick to a blueprint.”

Opposing coaches have struggled to figure the puzzle on how to counter Fremantle in 2026, and their 1-0 mantra is one that has fortified the players’ mental resilience over the course of the season.

“I think the contest part of the game for me is still an opportunity for a team, but it’s funny… sometimes contested footy, you can actually lose the contested possession count and still win the game.”

“Yesterday, Fremantle lost the contested possession count by 14, but they won the uncontested possession count by 79, so they opened up Gold Coast on the outside.

“I think controlling the ball and making sure you don’t go too chaotic against Fremantle is really important because when you go chaotic and you turn the ball over, you can get caught out really badly off the turnover and Murphy Reid, Sam Switkowski, Isaiah Dudley and Michael Frederick, these are the guys that are running back hard to goal shot.”

The Suns clash marks the end of Freo’s WA home stay over the past month, now packing their bags and heading to Canberra to play GWS on Saturday.

IMAGE: AFL Photos