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Fremantle only lost twice at home in 12 outings last year, and Saturday's match showed they would again be a force in the familiar confines of Subiaco. But the fact that few visiting teams win at Subiaco, with only Adelaide and Port Adelaide managing to take games off Fremantle last season, offers only cold comfort for the Swans, as they succumbed by 26 points.
In many respects it was a strange contest, with both coaches happy to play an open forward line, meaning that for much of the contest 18 or 20 players were chasing the ball in the middle of the ground. Fremantle coach Chris Connolly tried to bamboozle the Swans by using constant rotations to alternate from a small to a tall forward line.
Ultimately, Dockers' defenders Dion Woods, Robert Haddrill, Roger Hayden and Graham Polak were the team's unheralded heros. They entered the match with a combined 41 AFL games between them - yet restricted Barry Hall, Nick Davis and Matthew Nicks to just six goals. Of the Sydney forwards, Nicks was the only one to clearly get the better of his duel.
The Swans started the game the better side with Nicks booting the first goal. Then it looked like being a night out for Hall, who grabbed two goals in the first 12 minutes against novice defender Haddrill. It appeared the bustling forward had truly shaken off his first opponent when Haddrill left the field with what appeared to be a shoulder injury near quarter-time.
The Dockers responded to Hall's efforts with a goal to Matthew Carr, and scrambled to within five points of the Swans when big Troy Simmonds split the middle late in the term. Daniel Haynes then sparked his side into action with a goal early in the second term as the Dockers' midfield, led by Paul Hasleby with 17 first-half touches, began to get the ball out of the middle. Nicks responded with his second goal but it was to be the visitors' only major of the quarter as the Dockers kicked the last three of the half to grab a 16-point half-time lead.
Haddrill returned and started winning some key duels with an increasingly frustrated Hall as the Swans booted just one goal in two quarters. The home side fared slightly the better from a dour third term which saw them add goals to Paul Medhurst and Troy Longmuir and keep their opponents to just three points. The Dockers had stretched their advantage to 30 points and looked set for victory.
However, Hall broke the Swans' goal drought in the sixth minute of the final term, Sydney kicking three goals in three minutes to get within 18 points. But Tadhg Kennelly then missed a set shot, and Sydney was punished further when Docker Jeff Farmer dribbled a goal in the 15th minute to secure the game.
THE WRAP
The Dockers again showed there is no place like home by overcoming a disappointing Swans' effort in a scrappy encounter at Subiaco. Paul Hasleby had 37 possessions and Peter Bell 29, as Fremantle dominated the second and third terms. Haselby had 20 kicks, 17 handballs and ten marks and was a shining light in an error-riddled match.
Adam Goodes worked hard around the ground, but the ruck duels were dominated by Freo's Troy Simmonds. Brett Kirk was Sydney's best midfielder, effectively shutting down the dangerous Des Headland - a 2002 premiership player and Fremantle's star recruit - ensuring Headland had a terrible night. Matthew Carr was solid all night tagging Swans' playmaker Paul Williams, who was kept very quiet
Sydney were their own worst enemy with their confident start unravelling in a sea of mistakes and poor decision-making as the Dockers showed greater determination in their pursuit of the ball.
The Swans' impressive defensive unit held the Dockers to just 12 goals, but the Swans' attack misfired when it mattered, with a string of behinds from relatively easy shots on goal. The second and third quarters were a disaster for the Swans as they could only manage 1.8 to Freo?s 7.7.
After Paul Medhurst kicked the only two goals of the third term, the Dockers had kicked eight of the last nine goals and Sydney just had too big a hill to climb.
Sydney coach Paul Roos rued the Swans' inability to maintain scoreboard pressure.
"When you?re playing away you?ve got to put scoreboard pressure on when you can," said a disappointed Roos. "I thought we had enough of the footy but we just kept giving it back to the opposition. In league footy if you keep turning the ball over you?re going to get hurt."
"I just felt we didn?t give ourselves a chance to win the game. I thought the effort was there and we tackled but when you get hold of the footy it?s like gold in AFL. You?ve got to treasure it and you?ve got to keep it and make sure that you score so it was disappointing from that point of view."
"Going into the game if you had have said you would keep Fremantle down to 12 goals on their home field you?d probably take that."
"I thought the first quarter was OK, the second and third were pretty poor and we were good for 15 minutes in that last quarter," he said. "But once you get behind it's hard to catch up in an away game."
Swans captain Stuart Maxfield believes the skill level has to improve.
"I just think we need to get back to the basics more than anything else," Maxfield said. "We set a foundation throughout the whole pre-season but we went outside those boundaries against the Dockers.
"We didn't stick to our game plan. We had a dip in the last quarter but I think it was a little bit too late then. Our skill level let us down at times, but as bad as we played we still had a chance after getting within three goals in the final period."
Dockers coach Chris Connolly praised Hasleby for his efforts.
"Paul Hasleby is really a fierce competitor, you can just tell in his eyes all the time he just wants to win and that is his most endearing quality," Connolly said.
"It?s just good to win your first game as a reward for all the hard work you?ve done over the summer, just to maintain the confidence you develop over the summer."
"One thing with Sydney, there?s that much movement through the field that you end up missing a lot of the game and looking at the board to make sure your structures are right. It was a real threat ? they really had their tails up. Sydney, they're a quick running team like Port Adelaide and Melbourne and they can score heavily on this ground. I think their style of play is suited to this ground, unlike some others, and the guys hung in there and it was terrific."
"I think we?ve got three focuses on our defense ? the first one is play the young players, the second one is play the young players, the third one is play the young players, so we?ve just got to stick on our dig, and hope this group come through together."
The Swans returned home without any serious injuries, and Paul Roos is confident that Michael O'Loughlin will be back for the Adelaide game.
"He was touch and go for the Fremantle game. When it's early in the year you're always tempted to play them but hopefully he'll be right to play next weekend. As long as he completes training all week we certainly hope to pick him."
SYDNEY 4.1 5.5 5.9 8.12 (60)
FREMANTLE 3.2 8.4 10.9 12.14 (86)
Goals:
Sydney: B Hall 3 M Nicks 2 D McPherson N Davis N Fosdike.
Fremantle: J Farmer 2 P Medhurst 2 T Simmonds 2 A Sandilands M Carr D Headland J Longmuir T Longmuir D Haines.
Best:
Sydney: A Goodes B Kirk N Fosdike M Nicks C Bolton B Hall.
Fremantle: P Hasleby T Cook M Carr P Bell T Simmonds D Haines.
Umpires: M Fussell S McLaren D Margetts
Crowd: 24,878 at Subiaco Oval.
Injuries: Fremantle: R Haddrill (back) Sydney: J Bolton (knee)
Reports: Nil
In many respects it was a strange contest, with both coaches happy to play an open forward line, meaning that for much of the contest 18 or 20 players were chasing the ball in the middle of the ground. Fremantle coach Chris Connolly tried to bamboozle the Swans by using constant rotations to alternate from a small to a tall forward line.
Ultimately, Dockers' defenders Dion Woods, Robert Haddrill, Roger Hayden and Graham Polak were the team's unheralded heros. They entered the match with a combined 41 AFL games between them - yet restricted Barry Hall, Nick Davis and Matthew Nicks to just six goals. Of the Sydney forwards, Nicks was the only one to clearly get the better of his duel.
The Swans started the game the better side with Nicks booting the first goal. Then it looked like being a night out for Hall, who grabbed two goals in the first 12 minutes against novice defender Haddrill. It appeared the bustling forward had truly shaken off his first opponent when Haddrill left the field with what appeared to be a shoulder injury near quarter-time.
The Dockers responded to Hall's efforts with a goal to Matthew Carr, and scrambled to within five points of the Swans when big Troy Simmonds split the middle late in the term. Daniel Haynes then sparked his side into action with a goal early in the second term as the Dockers' midfield, led by Paul Hasleby with 17 first-half touches, began to get the ball out of the middle. Nicks responded with his second goal but it was to be the visitors' only major of the quarter as the Dockers kicked the last three of the half to grab a 16-point half-time lead.
Haddrill returned and started winning some key duels with an increasingly frustrated Hall as the Swans booted just one goal in two quarters. The home side fared slightly the better from a dour third term which saw them add goals to Paul Medhurst and Troy Longmuir and keep their opponents to just three points. The Dockers had stretched their advantage to 30 points and looked set for victory.
However, Hall broke the Swans' goal drought in the sixth minute of the final term, Sydney kicking three goals in three minutes to get within 18 points. But Tadhg Kennelly then missed a set shot, and Sydney was punished further when Docker Jeff Farmer dribbled a goal in the 15th minute to secure the game.
THE WRAP
The Dockers again showed there is no place like home by overcoming a disappointing Swans' effort in a scrappy encounter at Subiaco. Paul Hasleby had 37 possessions and Peter Bell 29, as Fremantle dominated the second and third terms. Haselby had 20 kicks, 17 handballs and ten marks and was a shining light in an error-riddled match.
Adam Goodes worked hard around the ground, but the ruck duels were dominated by Freo's Troy Simmonds. Brett Kirk was Sydney's best midfielder, effectively shutting down the dangerous Des Headland - a 2002 premiership player and Fremantle's star recruit - ensuring Headland had a terrible night. Matthew Carr was solid all night tagging Swans' playmaker Paul Williams, who was kept very quiet
Sydney were their own worst enemy with their confident start unravelling in a sea of mistakes and poor decision-making as the Dockers showed greater determination in their pursuit of the ball.
The Swans' impressive defensive unit held the Dockers to just 12 goals, but the Swans' attack misfired when it mattered, with a string of behinds from relatively easy shots on goal. The second and third quarters were a disaster for the Swans as they could only manage 1.8 to Freo?s 7.7.
After Paul Medhurst kicked the only two goals of the third term, the Dockers had kicked eight of the last nine goals and Sydney just had too big a hill to climb.
Sydney coach Paul Roos rued the Swans' inability to maintain scoreboard pressure.
"When you?re playing away you?ve got to put scoreboard pressure on when you can," said a disappointed Roos. "I thought we had enough of the footy but we just kept giving it back to the opposition. In league footy if you keep turning the ball over you?re going to get hurt."
"I just felt we didn?t give ourselves a chance to win the game. I thought the effort was there and we tackled but when you get hold of the footy it?s like gold in AFL. You?ve got to treasure it and you?ve got to keep it and make sure that you score so it was disappointing from that point of view."
"Going into the game if you had have said you would keep Fremantle down to 12 goals on their home field you?d probably take that."
"I thought the first quarter was OK, the second and third were pretty poor and we were good for 15 minutes in that last quarter," he said. "But once you get behind it's hard to catch up in an away game."
Swans captain Stuart Maxfield believes the skill level has to improve.
"I just think we need to get back to the basics more than anything else," Maxfield said. "We set a foundation throughout the whole pre-season but we went outside those boundaries against the Dockers.
"We didn't stick to our game plan. We had a dip in the last quarter but I think it was a little bit too late then. Our skill level let us down at times, but as bad as we played we still had a chance after getting within three goals in the final period."
Dockers coach Chris Connolly praised Hasleby for his efforts.
"Paul Hasleby is really a fierce competitor, you can just tell in his eyes all the time he just wants to win and that is his most endearing quality," Connolly said.
"It?s just good to win your first game as a reward for all the hard work you?ve done over the summer, just to maintain the confidence you develop over the summer."
"One thing with Sydney, there?s that much movement through the field that you end up missing a lot of the game and looking at the board to make sure your structures are right. It was a real threat ? they really had their tails up. Sydney, they're a quick running team like Port Adelaide and Melbourne and they can score heavily on this ground. I think their style of play is suited to this ground, unlike some others, and the guys hung in there and it was terrific."
"I think we?ve got three focuses on our defense ? the first one is play the young players, the second one is play the young players, the third one is play the young players, so we?ve just got to stick on our dig, and hope this group come through together."
The Swans returned home without any serious injuries, and Paul Roos is confident that Michael O'Loughlin will be back for the Adelaide game.
"He was touch and go for the Fremantle game. When it's early in the year you're always tempted to play them but hopefully he'll be right to play next weekend. As long as he completes training all week we certainly hope to pick him."
SYDNEY 4.1 5.5 5.9 8.12 (60)
FREMANTLE 3.2 8.4 10.9 12.14 (86)
Goals:
Sydney: B Hall 3 M Nicks 2 D McPherson N Davis N Fosdike.
Fremantle: J Farmer 2 P Medhurst 2 T Simmonds 2 A Sandilands M Carr D Headland J Longmuir T Longmuir D Haines.
Best:
Sydney: A Goodes B Kirk N Fosdike M Nicks C Bolton B Hall.
Fremantle: P Hasleby T Cook M Carr P Bell T Simmonds D Haines.
Umpires: M Fussell S McLaren D Margetts
Crowd: 24,878 at Subiaco Oval.
Injuries: Fremantle: R Haddrill (back) Sydney: J Bolton (knee)
Reports: Nil