Western derby 60: Fremantle claim victory over West Coast Eagles
West Coast and Fremantle may enter the derby winless, but make no mistake, there is more than four points on the line in western derby 60.
Fremantle will be eager to take the pressure off after a dire 0-2 start to the new campaign, where the hopes of a top-four berth are high.
Meanwhile, the Eagles showed heart in a fighting loss to the reigning premiers in Brisbane last week after a first-round slaughter to Gold Coast, and they will sniff another derby ambush to give coach Andrew McQualter his first taste of victory.
Follow all the action from Optus Stadium in our live blog.
HT WC 28 FRE 54
Both teams earned their places of 17th and 18th on the ladder in that quarter.
The skill errors are glaring and neither side can keep their efforts up for more than 10 minutes at a time.
The Dockers have a little more class in the end and Treacy slots a set shot after the siren to give the men in purple a 26-point advantage.
West Coast can’t stop Serong and their midfield is struggling to compete.
Allen is having a tough day and they are not getting much out of Jack Williams even though he is competing.
They may need to pull the sub leaver early in the third to get Hewett in the match.
Not much for Longmuir to worry about so far other than skill errors that he knows his side are better than.
Against the flow
The Dockers were threatening to burst the dam wall, locking the ball inside 50 with excellant team defence.
But a lucky bounce and gut hard work from Graham and Allen got the ball forward for the Eagles.
They needed three forward 50 stoppages but the ball finally ends up in Cripps’ hands for a set shot and he nails it to keep West Coast alive.
WC 27 FRE 42
Horror start
The Eagles are making ugly skill errors but Amiss missed an easy chance from 35 metres to let them off.
Archer then missed his set shot at the other end but there are concerning signs for the Eagles.
WC 20 FRE 35
QT WC 19 FRE 34
The Eagles threw some early punches before the Dockers lifted their pressure and forced West Coast into errors.
O’Driscoll showed his strength to brush aside tackles and earn his side momentum multiple times and once the Dockers were clear of the contest the Eagles’ defence just could not keep up.
Serong has had 11 touches while McGovern leads the Eagles with eight.
Dudley double!
The debutant has two first-quarter goals!
The first came from an easy set shot from the square after good forward running but the second came on the run chased by Duggan.
He knew straight off the boot it was good.
What a start for the first gamer.
WC 19 FRE 27
Dockers stale
Fremantle aren’t trying anything new today.
They are sticking to playing down the line and backing their mids to win the 50/50s.
However, the Eagles are the bigger side physically and their bold movement is catching the Dockers flat footed at times.
They just need to clean their skills up and Fremantle will be in trouble.
WC 19 FRE 13
Treacy returns
It was Voss who got Treacy with a rogue high five but he comes back onto the ground, in place of Voss, as Owies gets West Coast’s second goal from a set shot.
The Eagles are equalising around the ball and starting to even the contest.
Dudley is also on for his first run.
WC 12 FRE 6
Eagles respond
It’s been a tough opening few minutes for the Eagles but a lazy stray arm from Voss into Dewar’s face after a kick gives Williams a down-field free kick.
His set shot from 50 was terrible but Brockman ends up with the crumbs and a goal.
WC 6 FRE 6
Treacy sore
The Dockers’ goal may have come at a coast with Treacy appearing to cop a blow to the face in the celebrations.
He comes from the ground looking sore.
Bouncedown
We are underway!
Jackson gets the first tap and Serong gets the first clearance.
The Dockers make the most of a push free kick and Baker turnover to get the first of the game in the opening seconds.
WC 0 FRE 6
