It might be only a third of the way through the AFL season, but the two Western Australia-based teams have never been more diametrically opposed in their pursuit of a premiership.
The Fremantle Dockers are now bona fide flag contenders after beating the red-hot Hawks 12.16 (88) to 11.7 (73) at Optus Stadium on Thursday night, despite being down by 19 points early in the last quarter.
Rarely in the Dockers’ 30-odd-year history has the club displayed such grit and resilience coming from behind to win four of their eight games. More importantly, two of those victories came away from home against teams that played finals in 2025. It’s an overused cliche in footy, but great teams find a way to win.
Given the Dockers’ many false dawns, including famously declaring in 2021 that they would win a premiership by 2025, it would be foolish to predict a first flag at this stage of the season, but something different is brewing.
In contrast, the West Coast, who fell to a 15.9 (99) to 9.13 (67) defeat to Melbourne on Sunday, are a rabble. Footy experts love to serve up statistics to lazily emphasise how bitterly woeful a club has been, but for traditionalists, the Eagles have won two of the last three wooden spoons. The once-powerful club will likely pocket a fourth by the end of the season.
There were hopeful signs early in the year when West Coast posted impressive comeback victories over North Melbourne and Port Adelaide. But just when fervent fans were Googling “is it cheaper to fly to Melbourne or Bali in September”, the Eagles had a stark reality check with deflating losses to Sydney (128 points), Geelong (46), Fremantle (56) and St Kilda (101).
The Eagles hit a new low when they lost to an injury-ravaged and winless Richmond at home by 11 points. West Coast’s well-oiled PR machine would struggle to convince its fans that the club is more of a shambles than the federal Liberal party.
The 101-point drubbing by the Saints was their ninth triple-figure loss since 2022. The other 17 teams combined have just seven during the same period. The Eagles’ fall from grace has been brutal and punishing.
It’s too simplistic to suggest West Coast’s current woes are because it sold the farm to get Tim Kelly in 2019 from the Cats in the hope of pinching another flag. But by ignoring the best kids in the draft, the club arrogantly overestimated the quality of its ageing list.
The four-time premiers have been forced to select mature-aged recruits at a bargain price to balance out the youngest list in the AFL. Giving up pick three in the 2024 national draft to snaffle gritty Richmond defender Liam Baker as well up picking up crafty small forward Matthew Owies from the Blues looked good on paper. But the Blues got prized recruit Jagga Smith with pick number three; he already looks like a ready-made replacement for Patrick Cripps.
Andrew McQualter is desperate to keep his patched-up veterans on the park to aid the kids’ growth, but it only works if the senior players are still in the best 22. Baker has added much-needed leadership to the team, but Owies has been anything but crafty.
While the Eagles have continually bungled their trading, the Dockers have adopted a slow burn to build one of the best lists in the AFL. Over the past few years, Fremantle’s list manager, David Walls, has been methodically assembling a team with the cunning and shrewdness of a Hawthorn or Geelong from the past 15 years.
The Dockers have added class in recruiting Luke Jackson, Jordan Clark and Shai Bolton. Not to mention the astute selections of Josh Treacy, Patrick Voss and Mason Cox, as well as snaffling wunderkind Murphy Reid with pick 17 in the 2024 draft. Throw in Hayden Young, Andrew Brayshaw and Caleb Serong and the Dockers midfield has the power and grunt to match the Brisbane Lions.
But their biggest weapon is Jackson. His ability to control the flow of a game was evident against the Hawks on Thursday, when he ignited the Dockers in the last quarter. The 24-year-old is now one of the most damaging big men in the game and has consistently been either first or second this year in hitouts differential and hitouts to advantage differential. If he stays fit, the former Melbourne man could soon be wearing his second premiership medallion.
For West Coast, if you squint ever so slightly and tilt your head to the left, you can catch a glimmer of light. The club has two of the most dynamic and exciting young players in the competition, Harley Reid and Willem Duursma. But two kids barely out of high school shouldn’t be burdened with a rebuild of this magnitude.
It might be best for the Eagles to peek at Fremantle’s playbook and become ruthless and unforgiving in their recruitment. As the Dockers have shown, sometimes it takes a slow burn to climb back to the top.
