The streak is dead. Long live the streak.

Greater Western Sydney have achieved what no team has been able to do since March and beaten the dominant Fremantle Dockers by 21 points in a massive upset in Canberra.

The Dockers entered the game with 14 wins in a row and their season was so good that some people were calling for coach Justin Longmuir to rest his stars. Well, imagine if he’d done that on a day where the Giants were clearly the better team.

They ran harder, won more contests, had targets in attack and took Fremantle’s strengths away from them to win 16.13 (109) to 13.10 (88) at Manuka Oval.

This Dockers looked flat. Not just one or two players. The whole team looked a shadow of the team that has been winning this season. They lacked run, they lacked speed and they lacked intensity. And an ugly day got even worse when Hayden Young injured his groin.

Jake Stringer starred for the Giants with seven goals and Fremantle had no answers. GWS won the clearances 42-28 and dominated the inside 50 battle 62-47 as they controlled the game for nearly the entire day.

This was a win nobody saw coming and nobody expected.

Such has been Fremantle’s dominance, the Giants cheers quad didn’t even dare to take the mickey out of them on their banner. They didn’t want to give the Dockers any extra motivation.

But Fremantle looked ordinary from the start of the game. The Giants kicked a goal inside the opening minute and the home team were forcing the Dockers into unusual mistakes.

Brennan Cox fumbled the footy in defence and was penalised for holding the ball. Pat Voss and Murphy Reid left the ball for each other instead of just attacking the footy and GWS won the ball back.

Shai Bolton handballed straight to Clayton Oliver and when Luke Ryan handballed to nobody instead of rushing a point, it was clear the Dockers weren’t themselves.

GWS opened up a 13-point lead before Young produced a trademark pass to Josh Treacy to settle the ladder leaders with a goal.

And then the Dockers had a short period where they looked like the team which has been dominating. Luke Jackson kicked two goals for the quarter and he also had five disposals in an ominous sign.

But it was obvious that the Giants were going to fight. Toby Greene roughed up Caleb Serong and kicked a goal at one end, then got into a fight with Voss at the other.

GWS led by two points at quarter time but with so many injuries to their team, the question was whether they could maintain the rage.

They certainly could. Stringer kicked his third goal to open the second term after being left alone and the Dockers had plenty of work to do. They responded with two quick goals to hit the front but that was the last moments of joy they experienced for the quarter.

The Giants won the key contests, ran strongly and had targets in attack. GWS kicked the next three goals and led by 13 points at the long break.

Not only did they lead, they were scoring at will. Gold Coast kicked only 29 points against Fremantle last week. The Giants kicked that score in the first quarter and they had 58 points on the board at half-time.

Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir clearly wasn’t happy. The Giants led the clearances 25-16 and were putting the Dockers’ defenders under intense pressure. Something had to change and it had to change fast.

Dockers fans have have been accustomed to their team answering every challenge this season. They’ve found ways to win in so many different ways. So could they do the same in Canberra?

They were helped by Lachie Whitfield being ruled out of the game due to concussion. He was involved in a collision with Sean Darcy just seconds before half-time and he was the leading possession winner with 20 touches in the first half.

They needed to get the ball to their key forwards because Voss, Treacy and Jye Amiss had combined for just eight possessions.

Treacy got an early touch which was important and then Amiss kicked a goal after four minutes. But the sloppiness from the first half was still evident and everything looked hard..

There was no run and no flow. The Dockers went sideways, short or long down the line and simply couldn’t generate any excitement or flair.

When Frederick gave them some inspiration with a brilliant chase down tackle on Lachie Ash, they had the chance to kick another goal. But Sam Switkowski missed what he would normally have kicked. It summed up Fremantle’s day.

Then Harry Rowston nailed a brilliant shot from the boundary line. The Giants were up and about.

The Dockers got a break when Reid kicked a goal from a 50m penalty. But they gave it straight back when Isaiah Dudley gave away a 50m penalty and Conor Stone converted his shot.

Everything Fremantle touched turned to mud. Switkowski got run down from behind, Ryan lost the ball in the sun and dropped a mark and Stringer made them pay with his fifth. GWS led by 22 points and the streak was in trouble. When Cadman kicked another, the lead was 28 points.

We’ve all seen Fremantle produce purple patches this season. They’ve repeatedly stunned teams with extraordinary bursts. Not this time. GWS led by 34 points before the Dockers kicked consolation goals.