A scintillating five-goal stretch in 10 minutes in the opening quarter did the damage as Fremantle racked up an 18-point win over Brisbane Lions to take their place as the lone undefeated AFLW team after five rounds
The teams shared seven goals in the first period, but two each from Ashley Sharp and Sabreena Duffy put the Dockers 18 points to the good.
Duffy was the star in attack for Fremantle scoring four goals from nine kicks to take the lead in the AFLW goalkicking race with nine. She also registered four behinds and a score assist.
Her teammate Kiara Bowers was again outstanding with 21 possessions and 15 tackles to vie with Duffy for best on ground honours.
Emily Bates had an excellent game for the Lions with 27 possessions, while Ally Anderson collected 24 disposals. Jess Wuetschner kicked two of Brisbane’s four goals.
While the west coast team went goalless for almost two full quarters, the Lions could never get quite close enough and Fremantle won 7.8 (50) to 4.8 (32).
The Lions finished the game with 17 more disposals but were unable to use the ball with their usual efficiency thanks to the Fremantle pressure.
For their part, the Dockers laid 66 tackles to 50 from their opposition, which is fast becoming Fremantle’s trademark.
This time their flair in attack was on show too, leaving coach Trent Cooper a happy man.
“We weren’t happy with the last two wins, we weren’t content in the way we played. Today we got back to the way we wanted to play,” Cooper said.
“We pride ourselves on being efficient and that comes about from our tackles. When we turn the ball over that’s when we get space. We know our forwards are dangerous in that scenario.”
Lions coach Craig Starcevich was happy with a lot of what his team did, but paid respect to the Dockers’ ability to turn up the pressure when required.
“Statistically it says we were on top but they out-pressured us,” Starcevich said.
“That’s an area that we normally pride ourselves on being able to win. But that’s another strong part of Fremantle’s game.
“You still get your chances, there’s no doubt about that, but you’ve got to take them and use the ball well.
“If it gets into a situation where they are able to pressure you and win the ball back, they are pretty good at that – so full credit to them.”
The result keeps Fremantle on top of Conference B with five wins from five games, the only team in either division yet to taste defeat. The Lions have three wins, a loss and a draw and sit second in Conference A.