RECAP: Fremantle Dockers put premiership hopes to the test against Brisbane
Fremantle face perhaps the biggest home and away game in their history as they take on Brisbane with finals and potential top two finish on the line in a Friday night blockbuster.
The Dockers have soared into the top four but a loss tonight could send them to a virtual elimination final next week against Western Bulldogs.
However a win will secure their first finals campaiagn and leave them with a chance for a top two finish.
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Here we go
Bumper crowd in.
Sean Darcy wins an early free kick. Erasmus flies but isn’t paid the mark.
Dockers reload and attempt to find Voss but the Lions defence reads it well.
Up the other end Brennan Cox takes a big intercept mark to stop Brisbane’s first attack.
Justin Longmuir speaks
“We have to embrace the finals-like atmosphere,” he says.
“Brisbane are in the smae sort of position as us but we’re ready for it.
“They’ve got talent all over the park and quick through the corrider so we have to be on defensivley.
On Fyfe
“There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when he announced it,” he said.
“We hope this isn’t his last home game.”
We’re almost ready
10 minutes till bounce down.
Fyfe the sub again
There’s no late changes with Fremantle confirming Nat Fyfe will be the sub once again while the Lions debutant Luke Beecken will start on the bench for the visitors.
Brisbane take down Rising Star whinge
The Lions media department had an interesting 24 hours after they got on their soapbox to cry foul over Levi Ashcroft’s Rising Star odds slipping to third behind Fremantle’s Murphy Reid.
It was not received well by footy fans witht he club taking down the article earlier today.
Who will shape the finals
It’s tight at the top, and Ryan Daniels has a look at who will shape the finals series in these last two rounds.
Some advice for fans tonight
It doesn’t get bigger than this
Make no mistake about what’s at stake tonight.
Win at you’ve got one foot in the top four, lose and missing finals all together becomes a real possibility.
The Dockers will be desperate to lock in finals as soon as possible after their collapse last season.
A top four finish will also guarantee Nat Fyfe will get at least one more home game before he retires.
Frederick the milestone man
While there are plenty of things on the line tonight, Michael Frederick will bring up game 100 as we took a look back at the top five moments from his career so far.
Perhaps he can draw some inspiration from the time he torched the Lions a few years ago to help him again tonight.
A warning for fans
Dockers fans have been warned about traffic chaos tonight with no direct trains or special bus services running due to the overlap with rush hour traffic.
It should be a sellout crowd tonight so if you can leave early it may be best to do so.
