Reality check Dockers stripped bare under prime-time glare

It was a soaking wet Thursday night under the prime-time lights of Optus Stadium, but only one team was getting a bath.

In the top eight for the first time this season and hopeful of a first September appearance under second-year coach Justin Longmuir, Fremantle was again shown up by a finals-entrenched side that washed away much of the progress the club has made this season.

Fremantle failed in every department as the Cats purred to life in the wet at Optus Stadium.

The 69-point drubbing by Geelong was a reality check demonstrating how far off the premiership pace Fremantle is. The Cats’ pressure was on from the opening bounce and did not relent, leaving Fremantle a shadow of itself as the team struggled to match their intensity and gather any momentum from the contest, where they were belted time and again throughout the match.

They were comprehensively outplayed in all departments, as the Cats beat them up at their own game, winning the contested possessions 145 to 125 and denying the Dockers movement through their preferred corridor and forcing them wide, creating more contests the home team couldn’t win against their bigger-bodied opponents.

The Cats restricted the Dockers to just 31 points, their lowest score of the season, while scoring 100 themselves from 58 entries.

Hampered shoulder notwithstanding, captain Nat Fyfe couldn’t get near it in the first half, while David Mundy had his worst game of the season â€" thank goodness this was game 349. Caleb Serong and Andrew Brayshaw were dwarfed by Geelong’s gang of midfield giants, with ruckman Sean Darcy his side’s leading possession winner at the main break and only winner on the night. He looks set to miss the rest of the season with a suspected MCL, as does big forward Rory Lobb (ankle) in a further blow to Fremantle’s 2021.

Fleet-footed forwards Michael Walters, Sam Switkowski and Liam Henry were redundant in conditions usually amenable to their size, the trio inexplicably not laying a tackle for the night. Conversely Luke Dahlhaus, Brandon Parfitt and Brad Close had 23.

Other losses in key stat departments unveil the nightmare night for the Dockers: 167-274 in uncontested possessions, 65-137 marks, 56-121 uncontested marks and just two marks inside 50 compared to Geelong’s remarkable 28 â€" and without superstar forwards Jeremy Cameron and Gary Rohan.

Some dubious incorrect disposal and high contact free kicks against the home team in the first half were bizarre but nowhere near responsible for the drowning inflicted by a team capable of adapting to any opponent in any conditions for four quarters of footy.

Let’s hope the lesson is learnt by Longmuir before the club celebrates Mundy’s milestone against another hardened finals side in Sydney next week.

David writes about sports and lifestyle for WAtoday.

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