Fremantle triumphed over the Bulldogs

FREMANTLE                   2.3   4.7  10.10   14.11 (95)
WESTERN BULLDOGS  1.2   4.4    7.6      8.9 (57)

Fremantle has come right back in to finals contention with a 38 point win over the Western Bulldogs at Patersons Stadium.

The Dockers now join the logjam of teams on 7 wins after what was an ugly win.

Matthew Pavlich was the star as per usual for the Dockers, booting five majors to take the game away from the Dogs.

It was a game never teams fans will be keen to watch the replay of, with goals being rare in the first half and skill level right down.

As such, the first quarter was reminiscent of an arm wrestling competition; indeed it took Pavlich to kick his first of the game 13 minutes in to the quarter for the first goal of the game to be registered.

The dogs managed to respond through Shaun Higgins six minutes latter before a late goal to Chris Mayne gave Fremantle a 7-point quarter time lead.

Immediately the Western Bulldogs mounted an attack in the second quarter, with the Dogs kicking three of the first four goals, including two to live-wire Luke Dahlhaus.

It wasn’t enough to take a half time lead however as a Pavlich goal saw the home team take a 2 point lead to the long break.

The third quarter belonged entirely to Fremantle, as a burst of five unanswered goal to begin the quarter saw the game break wide open.

The run of five goals included three more to Pavlich, who had his fifth by the 17th minute mark to give Fremantle a 28 point lead.

It provoked a small rally from the Bulldogs who kicked three of the last four goals of the quarter to bring the margin back to 22 points at three quarter time.

It proved to be an insurmountable amount for the Dogs, as Fremantle run away in the last quarter kicking four goals to the Dogs one to claim a 38 point victory over the Western Bulldogs.

Fremantle will now travel to Melbourne to take on the Demons next Saturday while the Bulldogs will host Hawthorn on Sunday.

VOTES

3) Matthew Pavlich

2) Chris Mayne

1) Adam McPhee

FREMANTLE                   2.3   4.7  10.10   14.11 (95)
WESTERN BULLDOGS  1.2   4.4    7.6      8.9 (57)

GOALS
Fremantle: Pavlich 6, Mayne 4, Lower, Crowley, Broughton, Hill
Western Bulldogs: Dickson 3, Dahlhaus 2, Higgins, Griffen, Minson

BEST
Fremantle: Pavlich, Mayne, McPhee, Ballantyne, Pearce, De Boer, Crowley
Western Bulldogs: Boyd, Liberatore, Dickson, Minson, Wallis, Picken

INJURIES
Fremantle: Antoni Grover (head)
Western Bulldogs: Higgins (corked leg)

SUBSTITUTES
Fremantle: Paul Duffield replaced Antoni Grover in the third quarter
Western Bulldogs: Jason Tutt replaced Tom Campbell in the third quarter

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Fila, Nicholls, Hay

Official crowd: 30,420 at Patersons Stadium