Friday Fallout: Fremantle almost guaranteed minor premiership, setting club record

Fremantle have nearly guaranteed their second minor premiership in the club’s history with their win over the Bulldogs.

All the Dockers need to do is win one more game for the season or have the second-placed Sydney lose one of their remaining four games.

While it is still mathematically possible that the Swans could leapfrog the Dockers, that seems like a near impossible task, especially with bookmakers suspending all markets on minor premiership betting.

Freo also completed another remarkable feat in their prime-time Friday night matchup, achieving their 18th victory for the season – a club record.

With Melbourne at the MCG, Adelaide at Optus and Carlton at Marvel coming up in their remaining three games, the Dockers will surely win the 2026 minor premiership and extend their club’s home-and-away winning record.

All Fremantle fans will be hoping for a better result then what happened last time they won the minor premiership back in 2015 though. After topping the ladder, the Dockers were eliminated in the preliminary final, before finishing 16th the following season.

Reflecting on the Fremantle vs Western Bulldogs game itself, it was a hard-fought contest in the first half, ending at 29 points apiece. This means that since their bye in Round 14, the Dockers have only won two first halves, showing a potential vulnerability to what currently seems like an impenetrable armour.

Despite that, their second half was flawless, holding the Dogs to only one goal for the entirety of that half. Fremantle’s composure and patience with the ball was ultimately the decided factor of breaking down the Dogs, accumulating 48 more marks compared to their Victorian opponents.

Gun key forward Josh Treacy dominated in his 100th game, booting three goals and making his presence felt in the Fremantle forward line, while key defender Oscar McDonald also received applause for his performance, racking up 12 marks and 8 intercepts.

There was not one player from the Dockers side who had a poor game though, allowing Fremantle to continue their undefeated streak at home, marking their 11th consecutive victory while being the home team.

For the Dogs, Ed Richards was the clear standout with a game-high nine clearances, along with 26 disposals. But captain Marcus Bontempelli was shut down by a dual Hayden Young and Matt Johnson job.

This game proved that Luke Beveridge desperately needs his star forwards Aaron Naughton and Cody Weightman back in the lineup after a 41-point performance.

Fremantle will play Melbourne next Saturday at the MCG, while the Dogs will line up against North Melbourne on Thursday night.

Connor Scanlon

Cats got the points, but who won Daicos-Mullin battle?

We know Geelong beat Collingwood by 25 points (97-72) at the MCG on Thursday night. It certainly was an impressive victory.

But who won the battle between Nick Daicos and Oisin Mullin?

Magpies coach Craig McRae reckons Daicos came out on top with his 35 disposals, nine clearances, eight score involvements and seven inside 50s.

“Nick’s pretty hard to stop. He’s a remarkable player,” said McRae post-match.

But Kane Cornes would split the points given the Irish Cat had 16 touches, seven score involvements and five clearances and limited Daicos in the first half when the game was on the line.

“Oisin got him in the first half with a lot of his disposals in the back half, and one inside 50 in the first half,” he said on SEN’s Fireball.

“Nick got him in the second half. They moved him forward, he came up as a high half-forward and won a lot more of his ball in the forward half of the ground.

“The longer the game went the better Nick got. I’ll give you Oisin first half, Nick second half, and he probably ends up in the coaches votes again I assume.”

David King felt both players were worthy of recognition.

“I think they’re both in the coaches votes. On Brownlow night Nick probably still gets votes, but I think Oisin still gets coaches votes and he may get more than Nick,” King added.

“It’s not often you see Nick’s opponent almost go head-to-head for score involvements. You’re trying to negate Nick which is very hard to do, he’s always going to get volume. So you try to take away his kicking efficiency.

“In the frantic 40 minutes at the start Nick kicked at around 55 per cent. So if he has 14 and is turning over half of them, tick, you’re doing your job.

“It was a great battle which was intriguing to watch for the whole night. Credit to all parties.”

From an overall perspective, however, the Cats were far too good, particularly in the first half.

They blew the Pies off the MCG with a five-goal-to-one first quarter and at one stage led by 49 points during the second term.

While the Maggies pulled it back to 17 by three-quarter time, they were never seriously a chance of knocking off the Catters.

Ollie Dempsey was enormous with 29 touches and two goals, Bailey Smith was industrious with 28 and nine clearances, Tom Stewart pulled the strings from defence, and former Pie Ollie Henry was dangerous with 3.2 and six marks

Chris Scott’s Cats got the four points - even if the umpiring was iffy - and have put themselves in a fairly handy position in fifth, just a game out of the top four.

A soft run with Essendon, North Melbourne and Richmond to truly get their game in order before yet another September campaign.

For the Pies, it feels like there was a bit too much to do without the inspirational Brayden Maynard, and their backline will now be without Jeremy Howe, Harry Perryman as well as Darcy Moore. It's getting thin.

They should bounce back next week against West Coast before enormous tests against Hawthorn and Brisbane which mighty sort them out.

The Pies could still have a say from the wildcard spots if they’re unable to force their way into the six, but last night suggests that hope might just be diminishing.

Andrew Slevison

Think. Is this a bet you really want to place? For free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au