Seven Western Derbies so far, seven wins for West Coast so far. The weather in Perth for this one was cold, wet and windy - hardly the ideal conditions for either team, but probably more likely to favour the Eagles.
Despite all that, Fremantle started pretty well. West Coast probably had slightly more of the play, but the Fremantle defense stood tall. Shane Parker was all over Brett Heady, and Carroll had the better of Gehrig as well. From their solid base at the back, Fremantle were able to rebound with ease, and surprisingly enough, they even made the most of their chances, to get out to a 23 point lead. Freo were certainly having the better of the umpiring at this stage, and it was very amusing to watch the likes of McKenna and Matera have dodgy free kicks paid against them.
There was some speculation on Melbourne radio that this game could be the decider as far as Gerard Neesham's career at the Dockers was concerned. If that was the case, Fremantle certainly didn't show enough to save Gerard. The first quarter was terrific, the last three typical, which really illustrates that as a team the Dockers have learnt nothing in the past four years. They still play only one quarter, still have trouble finding a route to goals, and still let their opponents get away with easy victories like this one. How much of that can be blamed on the coach remains to be seen, but it looks more and more like we will be finding out next season.
Final Score : West Coast 15.9-99 defeated Fremantle 8.12-60
timnfromoz
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