Which club is Fremantle's biggest rival?

[SHill Shall]

45.8% of the votes from West Coast supporters on the West Coast board were for Fremantle.

Big brother/little brother syndrome going on here. At least we're more honest as to the position.

Any WC supporter who disagrees will have implicitly put themselves in the 46% of WC supporters believing Freo are their biggest rival - they wouldn't have read it otherwise .

 

[Rob]

When we were looking to win a premiership, winning derby’s, I reckon their supporters were worried we were becoming a genuine threat, especially how the state was embracing the purple.
Have a look at Man United vs City, that’s where we need to be.

I guarantee you at least 90% of West Coast fans - at least the ones that live in Perth - would hate losing to us a lot more than any other team.

But getting to a situation where both teams are consistently flag contenders is something that is virtually impossible under the current system.

 

[King Cold]

I guarantee you at least 90% of West Coast fans - at least the ones that live in Perth - would hate losing to us a lot more than any other team.

But getting to a situation where both teams are consistently flag contenders is something that is virtually impossible under the current system.

2015 wasn't that long ago where both WA clubs finished 1st and 2nd on the ladder.

What was it like in the west back then? Did West Coast supporters hate Fremantle and see them as being a genuine threat?

 

[ignoramus]

I think most people would say that it's around a 70/30 split for WC/Freo, but my feeling — and I've got nothing other than feels to back this up with — is that number of rusted-on, despise-the-other-team supporters for each team is roughly the same, but then there's this third category who "support WA football", which means they're first and foremost Eagles supporters but are happy when Freo are doing well, and only really barrack against Freo (some don't even do that) in the derbies.

As much as WC supporters are scum, this third group deserves a special place in hell, imo.

 

[Scham]

What’s the split like living in Perth? I just assume it’s 3/4 picking WC just because they joined first?

It's more about success. WC had huge support when they started but it very quickly dropped off due to their lack of success, but once they started having some success the bandwagon grew massively. New Australians lobbing in WA between 1990 and 1995 automatically chose WC because they were the only local team, and then post 1995, the vast majority chose WC due to them being the stronger and more successful club.

 

[Rob]

2015 wasn't that long ago where both WA clubs finished 1st and 2nd on the ladder.

What was it like in the west back then? Did West Coast supporters hate Fremantle and see them as being a genuine threat?

I remember thinking Melbourne was going to be a war zone if that was the grand final matchup.

 

[blue shark]

I think most people would say that it's around a 70/30 split for WC/Freo, but my feeling — and I've got nothing other than feels to back this up with — is that number of rusted-on, despise-the-other-team supporters for each team is roughly the same, but then there's this third category who "support WA football", which means they're first and foremost Eagles supporters but are happy when Freo are doing well, and only really barrack against Freo (some don't even do that) in the derbies.

As much as WC supporters are scum, this third group deserves a special place in hell, imo.

The third group have no chance of being WC members, so join Freo, then turn when it’s our Derby.
They are stuck in Purgatory.

 

[King Cold]

Interesting to note there have only been five seasons not featuring a WA team in the finals.

2000, 2001, 2008, 2009 and 2021.

Seasons without a WA team in the finals seem to come in twos so is it safe to say 2022 won't feature a team from WA in the finals?

 

[SHill Shall]

Interesting to note there have only been five seasons not featuring a WA team in the finals.

2000, 2001, 2008, 2009 and 2021.

Seasons without a WA team in the finals seem to come in twos so is it safe to say 2022 won't feature a team from WA in the finals?

WC are living through a nightmare at the moment, so Freo may be the hope of the WA Inc. side!

 

[stax on the mull]

2015 wasn't that long ago where both WA clubs finished 1st and 2nd on the ladder.

What was it like in the west back then? Did West Coast supporters hate Fremantle and see them as being a genuine threat?

Can't really speak for West Coast supporters because I don't really care what goes on in their heads but they seem to conjure up a different kind of hate to us. When they lose to us they've lost their entitlement, their sense of superiority, and we had made them losers for about 3 years. As much as they performed well in 2015 they probably couldn't believe their position on the ladder after 2 years of missing finals

2015 was the season that Geelong dropped out of finals contention for the first time, and a talented young Port Adelaide side - preliminary finalists in 2014, couldn't follow as expected, plus the Sydney side which looked the most powerful team on paper had significant injuries to their star players by mid-season and did well just to maintain a top 4 spot. There was a bit of a top 4 vacuum created and a feeling of illegitimacy about both West Coast and Fremantle in 2015.

Fremantle were in the unique position of being in top spot for almost the entire year (barring percentage in the early rounds) but Richmond ambushed us at home in Rd 10 and a typically bad loss to Hawthorn in Tasmania confirmed that we had to make up a lot of ground to be considered premiership contenders.

The other significant thing about that loss to Hawthorn was the injury sustained by Fyfe courtesy of Sam Mitchell's sniping knee. Up to that point Fyfe had polled 29 out of possible 39 votes in the Brownlow and you can't overstate how much his performances elevated the team from just being a final 8 contender to having that false position on top of the ladder. Quality players like Mundy, Neale, Sandilands, Hill and Pavlich were still able to put in good games but in most games it was Fyfe best on ground and massive gap to the next.

Fremantle had humiliated West Coast in the 1st derby of 2015 (kicking the first 11 goals of the game), but by the time of the 2nd Derby West Coast had improved to the point where it was a top 2 clash on the ladder. The rivalry was the same as always - we wanted to see them lose to make their supporters understand that they were still crap and we could tell them that they were crap. They have good players but when you're a rival team, you want your team to make them play badly. We'd notched up an undefeated streak (W,W,W,W,W,W) against them to the point where the win-loss in derbies was about to level up 50/50 if Fremantle could win the 2nd Derby of the season so that was one celebration fans would have been looking forward to.

Thing was that we weren't playing that well, just beating other opposition teams in a quarter and grinding out the other 3 quarters in matches, and we had suffered significant injuries to key defenders - coming up against a West Coast team whose one area of strength was their forward line. It was a perfect storm and definitely a wounding of pride when West Coast finally broke their losing streak against us. We would have liked the chance to have played them again in the finals - a first derby final in WA - that would have been our supporters preference more than theirs. Their grand final performance in 2015 said it all - and as much as we also hated Hawthorn (for being the one team that prevented us from acheiving greatness in the same era) it was a beautiful thing when West Coast performed so embarrassingly on Grand Final day 2015.

 

[vidwhal]

It's faux indifference. They pretend like they don't care because "good clubs don't care about petty rivalries". Their fans are by far the least knowledgeable, nuffiest in the AFL and they would absolutely hate us if we were flying and getting all the attention.

Decades of disappointment have weeded out the casuals from our fan base, which in a 2 team town means they flock to the other team, especially when that other team is winning flags. They have an overwhelming majority of the nuffs and the bandwagoners in this state, and it becomes obvious when you ever try to talk to any of them about anything football related not involving the Eagles.

Man, when you word it the way you have, I'm kinda glad Freos gone through all the shit, resulting in a less stupid following

 

[vidwhal]

I guarantee you at least 90% of West Coast fans - at least the ones that live in Perth - would hate losing to us a lot more than any other team.

But getting to a situation where both teams are consistently flag contenders is something that is virtually impossible under the current system.

That's honestly a better way to phase the very question of this thread. Who do you hate losing to the most? Would stir up a more honest response and indicator of true rivalries. Surely it'd have to be us, cos we'll let em know about it.

 

[Purple Jesus]

If we can smash both Calrton and the Toast this year, I'll be happy.

Absolute pillocks the both of them. I'm completely indifferent to the other teams, however beating Hawthorn always feels good too. campaigners.

 

[Piggy Smalls]

Can't really speak for West Coast supporters because I don't really care what goes on in their heads but they seem to conjure up a different kind of hate to us. When they lose to us they've lost their entitlement, their sense of superiority, and we had made them losers for about 3 years. As much as they performed well in 2015 they probably couldn't believe their position on the ladder after 2 years of missing finals

2015 was the season that Geelong dropped out of finals contention for the first time, and a talented young Port Adelaide side - preliminary finalists in 2014, couldn't follow as expected, plus the Sydney side which looked the most powerful team on paper had significant injuries to their star players by mid-season and did well just to maintain a top 4 spot. There was a bit of a top 4 vacuum created and a feeling of illegitimacy about both West Coast and Fremantle in 2015.

Fremantle were in the unique position of being in top spot for almost the entire year (barring percentage in the early rounds) but Richmond ambushed us at home in Rd 10 and a typically bad loss to Hawthorn in Tasmania confirmed that we had to make up a lot of ground to be considered premiership contenders.

The other significant thing about that loss to Hawthorn was the injury sustained by Fyfe courtesy of Sam Mitchell's sniping knee. Up to that point Fyfe had polled 29 out of possible 39 votes in the Brownlow and you can't overstate how much his performances elevated the team from just being a final 8 contender to having that false position on top of the ladder. Quality players like Mundy, Neale, Sandilands, Hill and Pavlich were still able to put in good games but in most games it was Fyfe best on ground and massive gap to the next.

Fremantle had humiliated West Coast in the 1st derby of 2015 (kicking the first 11 goals of the game), but by the time of the 2nd Derby West Coast had improved to the point where it was a top 2 clash on the ladder. The rivalry was the same as always - we wanted to see them lose to make their supporters understand that they were still crap and we could tell them that they were crap. They have good players but when you're a rival team, you want your team to make them play badly. We'd notched up an undefeated streak (W,W,W,W,W,W) against them to the point where the win-loss in derbies was about to level up 50/50 if Fremantle could win the 2nd Derby of the season so that was one celebration fans would have been looking forward to.

Thing was that we weren't playing that well, just beating other opposition teams in a quarter and grinding out the other 3 quarters in matches, and we had suffered significant injuries to key defenders - coming up against a West Coast team whose one area of strength was their forward line. It was a perfect storm and definitely a wounding of pride when West Coast finally broke their losing streak against us. We would have liked the chance to have played them again in the finals - a first derby final in WA - that would have been our supporters preference more than theirs. Their grand final performance in 2015 said it all - and as much as we also hated Hawthorn (for being the one team that prevented us from acheiving greatness in the same era) it was a beautiful thing when West Coast performed so embarrassingly on Grand Final day 2015.

A bit of a tangent but I was at that 2015 game in Launceston. I knew as soon as DeBoer, Suban and Walters attended the first centre bounce that we were not even expecting ourselves to win or appearing to be trying all that hard.
That dirty little campaigner sniped Fyfe right in front of me too.

 

[BStaff17]

Can't really speak for West Coast supporters because I don't really care what goes on in their heads but they seem to conjure up a different kind of hate to us. When they lose to us they've lost their entitlement, their sense of superiority, and we had made them losers for about 3 years. As much as they performed well in 2015 they probably couldn't believe their position on the ladder after 2 years of missing finals

2015 was the season that Geelong dropped out of finals contention for the first time, and a talented young Port Adelaide side - preliminary finalists in 2014, couldn't follow as expected, plus the Sydney side which looked the most powerful team on paper had significant injuries to their star players by mid-season and did well just to maintain a top 4 spot. There was a bit of a top 4 vacuum created and a feeling of illegitimacy about both West Coast and Fremantle in 2015.

Fremantle were in the unique position of being in top spot for almost the entire year (barring percentage in the early rounds) but Richmond ambushed us at home in Rd 10 and a typically bad loss to Hawthorn in Tasmania confirmed that we had to make up a lot of ground to be considered premiership contenders.

The other significant thing about that loss to Hawthorn was the injury sustained by Fyfe courtesy of Sam Mitchell's sniping knee. Up to that point Fyfe had polled 29 out of possible 39 votes in the Brownlow and you can't overstate how much his performances elevated the team from just being a final 8 contender to having that false position on top of the ladder. Quality players like Mundy, Neale, Sandilands, Hill and Pavlich were still able to put in good games but in most games it was Fyfe best on ground and massive gap to the next.

Fremantle had humiliated West Coast in the 1st derby of 2015 (kicking the first 11 goals of the game), but by the time of the 2nd Derby West Coast had improved to the point where it was a top 2 clash on the ladder. The rivalry was the same as always - we wanted to see them lose to make their supporters understand that they were still crap and we could tell them that they were crap. They have good players but when you're a rival team, you want your team to make them play badly. We'd notched up an undefeated streak (W,W,W,W,W,W) against them to the point where the win-loss in derbies was about to level up 50/50 if Fremantle could win the 2nd Derby of the season so that was one celebration fans would have been looking forward to.

Thing was that we weren't playing that well, just beating other opposition teams in a quarter and grinding out the other 3 quarters in matches, and we had suffered significant injuries to key defenders - coming up against a West Coast team whose one area of strength was their forward line. It was a perfect storm and definitely a wounding of pride when West Coast finally broke their losing streak against us. We would have liked the chance to have played them again in the finals - a first derby final in WA - that would have been our supporters preference more than theirs. Their grand final performance in 2015 said it all - and as much as we also hated Hawthorn (for being the one team that prevented us from acheiving greatness in the same era) it was a beautiful thing when West Coast performed so embarrassingly on Grand Final day 2015.

That GF week was the worse the go through really even with Fyfe winning the brownlow.

Thankfully i got called into work that morning on GF Day and didnt get home until the final quarter had started. I wouldn't have worked if Freo were playing btw.

But i had mentally prepared myself for Fremantle to be there that day from around round 4 when we blew the swans away to go 4-0.

Even though our form dropped away in the back half of the year being in the top 2 back then and winning week one was basically a ticket to the GF. I think we were the first team in 9 years at the time not to go through the GF after getting a week off.

And that PF loss still hurts me more then the GF loss.

At least when we made the GF it felt like an achievement and we entered the unknown as Freo fans making a GF having the Freo logo on the MCG on Grand Final Day. And our performance was at least respectful. Hawks had a Superior team, Home Ground advantage, GF Experience and we took it to them all day just didnt convert.

2015 was just depressing as we just faded away from a bright start and you just knew that was the last saloon of that group. If we couldn't beat hawthorn then we never would they were our kryptonite.

And Hawthron kicking a goal in the final minute of each quarter in the first 3 didnt help.

 

[BStaff17]

Interesting to note there have only been five seasons not featuring a WA team in the finals.

2000, 2001, 2008, 2009 and 2021.

Seasons without a WA team in the finals seem to come in twos so is it safe to say 2022 won't feature a team from WA in the finals?

27 seasons and we still haven't faced off in a final is remarkable really. Esepcially when Sydney and GWS have faced other 3 times already in 10 years and always seem to run into other.

Hasn't helped Freo have only made finals 7 times in there history.

And just 3 of those seasons that Freo and WC have played in the finals together 2003, 2006, 2015. Yet missed each other all 3 times.

 

[WilloTree]

A bit of a tangent but I was at that 2015 game in Launceston. I knew as soon as DeBoer, Suban and Walters attended the first centre bounce that we were not even expecting ourselves to win or appearing to be trying all that hard.
That dirty little campaigner sniped Fyfe right in front of me too.

 

[Mesc]

View attachment 1320155

I remember so clearly when that was first televised and I revisit it all the time!! Hahaha "Classic" The exact moment where he says " Robbed" OMFG hahaha

 

[King Cold]

27 seasons and we still haven't faced off in a final is remarkable really. Esepcially when Sydney and GWS have faced other 3 times already in 10 years and always seem to run into other.

Hasn't helped Freo have only made finals 7 times in there history.

And just 3 of those seasons that Freo and WC have played in the finals together 2003, 2006, 2015. Yet missed each other all 3 times.

GWS have won 7 finals in 10 years which is more than Fremantle who have won 6 finals in 27 years.

 

[Mesc]

GWS have won 7 finals in 10 years which is more than Fremantle who have won 6 finals in 27 years.

Bad comparison. Freo were not and never will be looked after like GWS have been. The AFL have been trying their guts out for GWS to succeed...

 

[blue shark]

Bad comparison. Freo were not and never will be looked after like GWS have been. The AFL have been trying their guts out for GWS to succeed...

AFL haven’t put enough astute,ruthless people to get the job done.
I expect the AFL will rubber stamp Hird for redemption, and Clarkson to GC.
They want to grow the game, yet we have a sleeping giant here that gets treated with contempt.

 

[Kapow!!!]

Bad comparison. Freo were not and never will be looked after like GWS have been. The AFL have been trying their guts out for GWS to succeed...

One team was created to capitalise on the growing Sydney market and further secure the financial security of the competition in the long term.

The other was created to nerf the first interstate "invader" to win a premiership...

 

[blue shark]

One team was created to capitalise on the growing Sydney market and further secure the financial security of the competition in the long term.

The other was created to nerf the first interstate "invader" to win a premiership...

Things are about to change for WC, this is their last year before bottoming out.
Same for Cats, last top ten pick was Selwood
WC fans really enjoy putting the boots into us. More than any other club.
Same with the media, put the spotlight on Freo rather than look within at tainted flags.
I think we will become very relevant soon, as they will eat their own when the roles are reversed.

 

[Kapow!!!]

Things are about to change for WC, this is their last year before bottoming out.
Same for Cats, last top ten pick was Selwood
WC fans really enjoy putting the boots into us. More than any other club.
Same with the media, put the spotlight on Freo rather than look within at tainted flags.
I think we will become very relevant soon, as they will eat their own when the roles are reversed.

Our drafting of recent has really excited even this dyed in the wool pessimist. Really looking forward to seeing Erasmus in particular. Am heartened that Fyfes forward craft has been worked on hard over the off season too

 

[blue shark]

Our drafting of recent has really excited even this dyed in the wool pessimist. Really looking forward to seeing Erasmus in particular. Am heartened that Fyfes forward craft has been worked on hard over the off season too

How many top 10 picks do we have in the team, let alone first rounders.
Can’t wait till we are feared again, next 5 years are going to be interesting.