Rory Lobb had the first and last laughs as the Western Bulldogs posted a crushing 49-point AFL win over Fremantle at Perth Stadium.
Lobb was enemy number one on Friday night, with the former Dockers forward booed by the majority of the 47,503 crowd every time he touched the ball.
The 30-year-old was physically targeted even before the first bounce, but he kicked an important goal late in the second term and proved to be a regular distraction for Dockers players to help lead the Bulldogs to the 17.16 (118) to 10.9 (69) victory.
The result left the Dockers nursing a 2-4 record ahead of a tough five-game stretch that will see them play Brisbane, Hawthorn, Sydney, Geelong and Melbourne.
Fremantle also revealed during Friday's match that forward Matt Taberner had undergone microdiscectomy surgery to fix a back injury, ruling him out for an undetermined period.
The Bulldogs improved their record to 3-3 ahead of next week's clash with Hawthorn.
Bulldogs midfielder Marcus Bontempelli (31 possessions, eight clearances, two goals), Jack Macrae (29 disposals, 14 clearances), Tom Liberatore (25 possessions, seven clearances, one goal) and Adam Treloar (35 disposals, two goals) starred through the midfield.
Bailey Williams and Aaron Naughton booted three goals apiece.
Lobb finished with 1.3 and six marks from 12 disposals in an up-and-down display.
Dockers big man Sean Darcy was a dominant figure early and he finished with five contested marks, 53 hitouts and a goal in an intriguing ruck battle with Tim English (20 possessions, 34 hitouts, one goal).
Caleb Serong (35 disposals, 10 clearances) continued his hot form.
Lobb was laughing as he braced for a before-the-bounce scuffle with Alex Pearce.
The Dockers captain twice roughly bumped Lobb to spark a mini melee, with Jordan Clark pulling the Bulldogs forward to the ground in the fracas.
The Bulldogs had six behinds to their name before Bontempelli finally got their first goal of the match at the 18-minute mark.
Fremantle were lucky to only trail by six points at the first break.
It marked the 10th straight match in which the Dockers trailed at quarter time.
The deficit blew out to 25 points in the second term before a Lachie Schultz goal on the run and two quick majors to Sam Sturt got the Dockers back into the contest.
Enter Lobb. The maligned forward took a mark and blocked out the vitriol from the crowd to kick a crucial settler for the Bulldogs shortly before half-time, helping the visitors enter the long break with a 19-point edge.
Lobb missed an easy set shot in the third quarter, with the Dockers going coast to coast straight after in a move that ended in Michael Frederick snapping truly.
But minutes later, with a number of Fremantle players scuffling with Lobb, Treloar made the most of the distraction by pouncing on Jamarra Ugle-Hagan's shanked set shot to snap a crucial goal.
That major gave the Bulldogs a 23-point lead at the final change, and the visitors banished the ghosts from last year's elimination final capitulation by sealing victory with a dominant finish to the match.
Ladder
AAP
