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Dockers defeat Cats 18.12 (120) to 16.10 (106) in semi-final
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Minor premiers to meet Sydney in preliminary final
There’s been some pandemonic nights at Optus Stadium, but nothing that could match this. Fremantle is through to a preliminary final after a semi of the highest quality and the utmost tension. It was simultaneously free-wheeling and nerve-jangling – both high scoring and high pressure. It activated Wharfie Time for just the second time this year, but it wasn’t really needed. The noise was cacophonous, the tension excruciating and the result ultimately just.
There was a period midway through the third term where it looked like Geelong might skip away with this game, just like they did against Carlton a week earlier, just as they have so many times in big games over the years. The spring-heeled Ollie Henry was marking everything, Dangerfield looked menacing, and their fleet of runners were finding space and carving the Dockers up. But if this Fremantle side is truly the one to re-write history, the time-on period in the third quarter will be one of the defining reference points. In particular, Luke Jackson and Andrew Brayshaw were pivotal in this period, blunting the Cats at centre square stoppages and surging the ball forward. They kicked four goals in seven minutes and from that point the game was on their terms.
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