FREMANTLE 3.2 6.4 13.8 16.10 (106)
MELBOURNE 2.5 9.7 9.10 15.14 (104)
GOALS: Fremantle - Neale 4, Mundy 3, McCarthy 2, Grey, Balic, Crozier, Walters, Fyfe, S Hill, Kersten. Melbourne - Garlett 3, Petracca 2, Harmes 2, Spencer 2, Watts 2, Neal-Bullen, Salem, Kent, Viney.
BEST: Fremantle - Neale, Mundy, Fyfe, Weller, Sandilands, McCarthy, Blakely. Melbourne - Oliver, Tyson, Salem, Petracca, Harmes, Garlett.
UMPIRES: Stevic, Mitchell, Harris.
CROWD: 27,829 at MCG.
In the context of the bigger picture, Lachie Neale's goal for Fremantle right on the half-time siren at the MCG on Saturday didn't seem like a big deal.
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Dockers stun Demons in thriller
A blistering third term from Fremantle delivered a 2-point win over Melbourne at the MCG.
It kept the Dockers within sight of Melbourne, pulling a 27-point margin back to 21, but after 15 minutes in which the Demons had slammed on five unanswered goals and controlled this game, it also seemed something of an aberration.
One quarter later, that clearly hadn't been the case at all. By then, that near five-goal deficit had become a 22-point lead, like last week, an unusually attacking Fremantle having themselves banged on seven goals to none for the term, eight without reply.
Where did it come from? Faces new and old. Lachie Weller and Connor Blakely the young guns playing with freedom, more experienced hands like Neale thriving on their enthusiasm.
Where did it go? Just as quickly as the Dockers began to score freely, the scoreboard supply dried up again as a desperate Melbourne, shocked into action after the Demons had become perhaps a little too pleased with themselves, threw the kitchen sink at the last term.
But by now, Fremantle had come too far to succumb meekly. And the result, a desperate final quarter and the match points in doubt until the last second, was a thriller.
After a slowish start Melbourne had stolen a march on the visitors with a burst of five goals in 14 minutes before half-time.
Boom youngster Clayton Oliver was winning plenty of clearances, and up forward, in the absence of Jesse Hogan and with Sam Weidemann really struggling, the smaller types thrived, Jeff Garlett dangerous, ditto Christian Petracca and James Harmes.
Garlett bagged a couple during that burst, one through some clever positioning at the back of a pack, the second after chasing down Fremantle's Lee Spurr, Petracca and Alex Neal-Bullen chiming in, and Harmes also booting two. At that point, Freo were fading fast.
The third term, however, revealed a side whose spirit, if not its personnel, seemed a different combination altogether.
Neale was sensational for the Dockers, winning a ton of ball and hitting the scoreboard as well, ending the day with 4.1 and a score assist as well as 22 disposals. Kids like Griffin Logue and Harley Balic combined for goals, Freo found the will to tackle again, and all those elements conspired for a team with the scent of victory very much in its nostrils.
Did the same Dockers then retreat back into their shells? Perhaps, but Melbourne's last term wasn't all that different to the way Freo had attacked the third quarter, the devil-may-care positivity paying off.
Jack Watts kick-started the revival just a minute into the final term with a strong mark. Jake Spencer, who at least battled on all day against a dominant Aaron Sandilands, booted his second, and it was back to 10 points the difference.
Petracca and Garlett made it just a kick. But for Fremantle, the cream certainly rose to the top, too. Nat Fyfe was unusually quiet early, but right in the thick of it when the Dockers needed him most, seven disposals and three important clearances a big final term.
And the Dockers continued to chip away. Brady Grey replied from the next centre bounce after Garlett had kicked his third. Christian Salem, solid all day for the Demons, dribbled one through with his left foot.
When Melbourne co-captain Jack Viney marked strongly in front of a flailing Ed Langdon and dobbed another, the Demons were back in front. Even at that point, this would have been a fine effort, if not one rewarded with a win, from Freo.
But what might end up being one of the Dockers' more impressive victories, at a venue which all too often has seen them embarrassed, was delivered when a long kick to the goal face cleared a pack, and Cam McCarthy, a real livewire up forward, managed, just, to get a toe to the ball to put his team ahead for one last time.
Still, Melbourne had a chance, Harmes missing with a long speculator, Freo veteran Michael Johnson bafflingly kicking to a contest from the kick-in when he had a man free with just a handful of seconds left on the clock.
But with the ball still agonisingly close to the Demons goals, the siren rang, the upset confirmed, and a Fremantle outfit that seemed headed nowhere only two weeks into the season, suddenly back on an even keel and with a whole fresh outlook on life just two weeks later.
That's how quickly the landscape can change these days. Just like a seemingly meaningless consolation goal for the Dockers before a break in this game in fact would spark something far bigger.
VOTES
(Rohan Connolly)
Lachie Neale (Frem) 8
David Mundy (Frem) 7
Nat Fyfe (Frem) 7
Clayton Oliver (Melb) 7
Dom Tyson (Melb) 6