Good for a laugh from Dockerland

[Aussie Bears]

Freo Formguide: Freo v St Kilda
by Shane Richmond 15-08-2007

There's an old Fremantle sea shanty that goes "Justin Longmuir has a nightmare about that St Kilda game...". A haunting tale of what might have been if Jlo wasn't the legend that he is. Well, St Kilda dream of the game as well, but for the Saints they are sweet, happy dreams because going down by 5 points to Fremantle at Subiaco looks like it might be closest they're going to get in a while.


There have been some exciting games between Fremantle and St Kilda, there have been some controversial games between Fremantle and St Kilda but the last couple of games have just been one sided paddlings, the first of which ended the reign of Grant Thomas and set the St Kilda Football Club back 20 years.

At about this time in 2006, the Dockers ripped St Kilda to shreds to lock away a final and storm into the top 4 in what was to be win number 7 of their 9 game streak. St Kilda kicked a couple of early goals but Fremantle put up an impenetrable defence and the Saints didn't trouble the scorer again until the umpire fixed them up for a couple after half time. Fremantle had no trouble scoring though, kicking 17 for the day and winning by 58 points. 4 of those goals came from Jeff Farmer, 3 from Matthew Pavlich and 3 from Shaun McManus. Big Fraser Gehrig managed an umpire assisted 2. The top ball getter for Fremantle was a singing centre half back by the name of Luke McPharlin while Robert Harvey had the most of it for St Kilda. The umpires gave their votes to Shaun McManus,Peter Bell and Brett Peake.

Fremantle were in red hot form back then but they dished out a similar treatment in 9 this year, under the bright lights of Friday night football. St Kilda attempted to cheat once again, with dodgy umpiring decisions and even more suspicious goal umpiring but they were still no match for the half strength Dockers. Freo had the game sewn up by quarter time, running rings around St Kilda before a more measured second and third quarter with a five goal final quarter burst to finish them off, winning by 46 points. Pavlich, Bell and Tarrant all kicked 3 goals with nothing but singles coming from the St Kilda players. Paul Hasleby, Peter Bell and Luke Mcpharlin had a ridiculous amount of the footy, while Nick Dal Santo managed a moderate best performance for St Kilda. The Clinton Wolf Medal voting committee liked the work of Peter Bell, Paul Hasleby and Michael Johnson ... in controversial circumstances.

You may remember another match between Fremantle and St Kilda. There was some confusion over the result. Well, there wasn't much confusion at the Fremantle end - they knew they'd won, but for some reason a couple of the St Kilda punks were under the impression the game was drawn (if you look in enough injecting rooms you'll probably find some who still think it should have been). It was an odd day. The siren sounded, the Freo players started celebrating a win but the umpires let play go on for another 10 seconds so St Kilda could kick a point and draw the game. Even then, after St Kilda had botched the attempt to steal the game, the umpires gave them a free kick to let them steal it again. They botched that one too and it was still a "draw". Days of trying to justify the unjustifiable followed until finally the AFL stepped in and gave Fremantle their points back.

Lost in the fog of cheating was the fact that it had been a pretty good game of footy. The Dockers returned to Tasmania after failing against the Hawks there just a month earlier and ran rings around what was then a very fancied St Kilda outfit. After getting out to a match winning lead in the last quarter, Freo put the queue back in the rack before a string of incomprehensible umpiring decisions, followed by the siren fiasco, saw the Saints get within cheating distance. Matthew Pavlich kicked a lazy 6 goals from his 21 disposals, Jeff Farmer kicked 3. Fraser Gehrig managed to sneak through 3 as well for the Saints. The top ball getters were Ball and Bell with 26 touches each. Still rattled by the goings on, the umpires gave votes to Matthew Pavlich and Josh Carr with Vossy’s brother stealing the . Tthe Clinton Wolf Medal committee went the way of Matthew Pavlich, Byron Schammer and Antoni Grover.

There was controversy in Tasmania a year earlier too when St Kilda last beat Fremantle - Round 2, 2005. After a neck and neck battle for most of the day, Freo got a mini break in the last quarter but the Launceston Flu struck again with a late fight back from the Saints, a couple of brain explosions and a one of the worst umpiring decisions Tasmania had seen to that point lost the Dockers the lead in the final minutes, seeing them go down by a solitary point - St Kilda 8.11 (59) to Fremantle 8.10 (58). Paul Medhurst copped some flak for not passing to Des Headland in the final minutes but still booted 3 goals for the match. The ever reliable Peter Bell had 28 touches, Lenny Hayes had 29 for the Saints and topped their scoring with 2 goals.

You may also remember another close match when Fremantle played St Kilda at Subiaco Oval later that year. In scenes from a bad Hollywood movie, Justin Longmuir rose above a pack of 13 other players in front of a packed Subiaco Oval on a Friday night, to take the mark of the decade, a handful of seconds before the siren. He took his kick, split the middle of the goals, the crowd went spastic and Freo won by 5 points. Obviously Paul Hasleby had the most of the footy, racking up is standard 31 touches. For the Saints, Robert Harvey got rid of the ball 25 times. On the goal kicking front, Luke McPharlin, Matthew Pavlich and Fraser Gehrig all bagged 4. The umpires liked the work of Hasleby and Harvey giving them the 3 and 2 votes respectively, with Leigh Montagna taking home the 1. In laughable scenes, the Saints tried to claim after the match that the umpires had cheated despite an even free kick count. an inquiry was launched to stop Grant Thomas from balling his eyes out Maxy Hudghton style, but in the end was dismissed as just another bit of St Kilda sooking.

This week, Fremantle head to east to play St Kilda in Melbourne for the first time since the Saints kicked them out of the finals in 2004. The Dockers were desperate for a win to get back into the top 8. Freo played one of their better games for the year but found themselves undermanned and out of luck. After letting the Saints out to an early lead, they fought back to be with 6 points at the first break. It was a pattern that continued, and Fremantle found themselves clawing back ground at the end of each quarter. Falling as far behind as 40 points, Fremantle got with 16 points late in the last quarter but were coming from too far back and fell 29 points short. Jeff Famer and Troy Longmuir topped the goal scoring with 2 each. Big Fraser Gehrig kicked 4 for the Sainters. Paul Hasleby and Matthew Pavlich had the most of the ball for Fremantle and Vhitey Riewoldt had plenty for the Saints (obviously before he switched from the no more tears shampoo). Brendon Goddard caught the eyes of the umpires and was given the 3 Brownlow votes, Del Santo and Vhitey rounded out the placings.

Since that loss, Fremantle have only been back to the Dome 4 times and they've only managed 1 win, with two narrow losses. This year they were at the Dome in Round 2 where they lost to Essendon by 10 points after the AFl equalisation policy was enacted in the last quarter. Pavlich and Tarrant still managed 4 goals each and Paul Hasleby picked up a lot of the footy.

Last week St Kilda were rolled by the Swans in the last quarter to lose by 17 points. Gehrig kicked a couple of goals and Montagna got a few kicks. The week before that they drew with an undermanned Western Bulldogs and a week earlier they were almost beaten by Carlton. They are currently sitting in 9th spot on the ladder with 9 wins, 1 draw and a percentage so low even Big Fraser could count to it.

Fremantle are coming off a thrashing of an emotionally charged Essendon. The Dockers beat the Bombers by 10 goals, with Pavlich kicking 6 and Paul Hasleby getting rid of the ball 35 times. That was their 3rd win from their last 4 games which has seen them climb to just half a win out of the top 8.

[Saints Premiers 2008]

burn fockers

[ausfatcat]

no bias whatso ever

[jamkella]

love it - sarcasm is not dead, and yes it´is good for a laugh.

[snoopygirl]

Hate them & their supporters with a passion. Couldn't read all of it as I don't feel like getting too angry this early in the morning.

[casey scorp]

This week, Fremantle head to east to play St Kilda in Melbourne for the first time since the Saints kicked them out of the finals in 2004.

The wonders of AFL fixturing.

Welcome back to Melbourne!! You'll wish you'd stayed home.

[riccardo]

The Frockers are a disgrace to purple.

[n1ck]

This week, Fremantle head to east to play St Kilda in Melbourne for the first time since the Saints kicked them out of the finals in 2004.

The wonders of AFL fixturing.

Welcome back to Melbourne!! You'll wish you'd stayed home.

Cant believe they've only played at the Dome 4 times since then.

Actually I can believe it.

What a disgrace.

[Dan Warna]

meh we used to right similar match previews

its all good and we are biased too.

leave them their laughs and lets win the game.

[saint66au]

"Queue in the rack"???

"Vhitey Riewoldt"??

Racist AND illiterate lil darlings

We should bloody well hand out copies of that load of crap at the gates to get everyone well and truly fired up

GET ANGRY Saints fans..we owe em!!!!!

[n1ck]

You should start yours up again Dan

[joffaboy]

they wear purple - god love 'em.

I will admit that if the clown with the bell comes over to Melbourne he/she/it will not get out of TD alive

[Dan Warna]

You should start yours up again Dan

mmm

I'd rather not.

its dangerous times on the saintsational forum

besides I still cackle at Zippy's match review against the hawks some years ago.

goddard and ball fighting over the lego lawls.

[st_Trav_ofWA]

heheeh funny thing is The West newspaper would prob have a similar article with the exception the would mention west coast and chris judd at least 4 times in it !!

[cowboy18]

Nice write up!

But they are complete and utter anchors.

[Mr X from the West]

I'm just hoping you MEL based fans create a similar hostile atmosphere to that we have to put up with when the Saints play at Subi - it is a dead set cacophony and guarantees at least a few goals home advantage.

Fire up you blokes (and girls), get to the Dome on Saturday and make some bloody noise!

[fingers]

they wear purple - god love 'em.

I will admit that if the clown with the bell comes over to Melbourne he/she/it will not get out of TD alive

Oh Im ao so with you JB - he will be ringing with every step if I get my hands on him.

[Stephen Theodore]

I watched the drawn game in a Fremantle pub, and believe me they rank up there with the feral filth supporters, in class and I.Q.

[st_Trav_ofWA]

the thing about the dockers is they have this huge chip on their shoulder and think the AFL is against them like they have some sorta right to a flag cause they are the last team to get one .. im sorry freo no one told you to pick a dud like waterhouse with pick no.1 no one forced you to tell A. Macleod he was to short to ever get a game for the dockers no one made you trade the no.1 pick for croad only to give him back !!

the problem with them is they dont have any history they try and steal the east freo / south freo history as their own but its not , their colours remind me of a bad weekendof vomiting after eating avacardo and drinking Purple Gohannas (a s*** house drink that lasted about 2 years think metho mixed with purple !) , their song is the lamest song i swear some times the team play s*** just so they dont have to sing it !!

[OneEyedSainter77]

they wear purple - god love 'em.

I will admit that if the clown with the bell comes over to Melbourne he/she/it will not get out of TD alive

Damn right! I'll help you kill him mate (or imprison and torture him by replaying their pitiful preliminary final last year over and over again, followed by the Geelong match a few weeks ago)