Game Detail

Round: 16   Venue: Docklands   Date: Sat, 14-07-2012 1:45 pm   Attendance: 13,284
Melbourne	6.4.40	8.6.54	12.7.79	12.11.83	C:
Fremantle	3.2.20	6.5.41	11.6.72	18.9.117	C:
	ME by 20	ME by 13	ME by 7	FR by 34

Weather

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Match Report

Melbourne was gutsy, but Fremantle had more to play for and it was telling in the end. If the Dockers lost this match, they could almost have given up thinking about playing finals in 2012. It looked like going that way for the majority of the afternoon. Mark Neeld’s side lead at every change and were particularly dominant in the first quarter, kicking six goals to three. But without key ruckman Mark Jamar after quarter time when he was subbed out with a leg injury, the Dockers were slowly able to whittle away the deficit, then kick the final nine goals of the game, including eight in the final term. The win took the Dockers to eight wins, equal with ninth-placed North Melbourne. It was Fremantle’s first victory over the Demons since round four, 2007. While this contest wasn’t supposed to be a sell-out, everyone involved would have been disappointed with the offical crowd figure. The total of 13,284 was the third lowest crowd ever at Etihad Stadium. Dockers captain Matthew Pavlich (four goals) continued his standout form, while forgotten small forward Michael Walters kicked three on return to the lineup.

GOALS
Melbourne: Green 3; Martin, Bail 2; Bennell, Blease, Bate, Green, Sylvia
Fremantle: Pavlich 4; Walters 3; Ballantyne, Barlow, Hill, Pearce 2; Mzungu, Bradley, Mayne

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Melbourne: Sylvia, T.McDonald, Nicholson, Frawley, Martin, J.MacDonald
Fremantle: Mundy, Walters, Ballantyne, McPharlin, Hill, Mayne, Pavlich

BEST - SPORTAL
Melbourne: Tom McDonald, Joel Macdonald, Sylvia, Frawley, Green
Fremantle: Mundy, Walters, Pavlich, Barlow, Hill, Ibbotson, McPharlin

COACHES COMMENTS
Mark Neeld (Melb): We felt that we did a lot right for probably three quarters [but] to win a game of AFL footy you have to get everything right for four quarters and we just could not do that.

Ross Lyon (Frem): I thought after quarter-time … we had full control in a real sense but the inability to score in the second - 15 entries [for] 3.3 - was a bit frustrating [as was] our clearance work early.

Umpires: Dalgleish, Wenn, Bannister

Player Stats