GWS snapped Fremantle’s 14-game win streak over the weekend with an upset win at Manuka Oval in Canberra.
The Dockers struggled to get into their best form on the day and they were outworked by the Giants all over the ground.
Clearance game domination led to a controlling performance from an out of form GWS – their desperation to keep their season alive very visible on Saturday.
They recorded 14 more clearances than Freo, keeping the top dogs’ midfielders locked down too with a plus five differential in centre clearances and plus nine in stoppage clearances.
Fremantle simply couldn’t keep the ball inside their forward 50 and the three pronged attack of Amiss, Voss and Treacy wasn’t as threatening as usual – Treacy the only goal scorer of the trio with two.
Despite the loss, the Dockers still lead the competition sitting on top of the ladder a game ahead of Sydney.
WA Football Hall of Famer Steve Malaxos joined Sports Breakfast this morning.
“The loss of four points isn’t actually absolutely critical to Fremantle and they’re almost certain to finish in the top two,” he said.
“Perhaps the takeaway from it is, is there some things that GWS did that maybe other teams will do? And how can we combat it? How can we overcome it? And was it just a one-off thing or is there going to be a trend.
“As a long term thing, it’s not nowhere near catastrophic, it’s whether that particular game highlighted a few things that they need to work on, and in that sense, it’s better for it to happen now than in eight to 10 weeks time or longer.”
GWS choked Fremantle all over the ground, stopping them from using space around the oval to generate ball movement.
The Dockers will hope this weekend’s performance doesn’t provide a blueprint into getting past them on the footy field.
“GWS played a pretty traditional defensive setup.”
“They put them under pressure when they had the ball, didn’t allow the Fremantle defenders to get the ball and just chip the ball around.”
Sean Darcy will have to put in a big performance in the next match as he battles it out with Mason Cox for a spot in the 23.
He had 15 hit outs this weekend and 20 on his return to the side last week against the Suns, also slotting a goal in that match too.
More disappointing news for Dockers fans as Hayden Young was pulled out of the game for the second half with a groin injury.
The exact nature of the injury and a timeline on his recovery is expected to come out during the week.
Fremantle now head back to Perth to prepare for a top-two clash with Sydney on a five day turnaround.