But when Ross Lyon has his team playing in the miserly fashion he made famous at St Kilda, the challenge of playing the Dockers at Patersons Stadium is greater than ever before.
Fortunately, Collingwood has developed a solid record at the Perth venue in recent years and hasn’t lost to Fremantle since 2008.
It looms as an intriguing battle.
Match Details
Fremantle v Collingwood
Round Seven
Saturday 11 May 2013
Patersons Stadium (nee Subiaco Oval)
Start time
Local: 5.40pm
EST: 7.40pm
Head-to-Head
Collingwood: 15
Fremantle: 8
Drawn: 0
Past Five
Round 14 2012
Collingwood 15.17 (107)
Fremantle 12.6 (78)
Goals – Collingwood: Dawes 3, Cloke 2, Paine 2, Goldsack 2, Swan 2, D.Thomas 2, Beams, Buckley
Fremantle: Pavlich 5, Broughton 2, Mayne 2, Pearce, Mundy, Clarke
Disposals – Collingwood: Swan 43, Beams 32, Blair 32, Wellingham 29, D.Thomas 26, Sidebottom
Fremantle: Barlow 37, Johnson 22, McPharlin 22, Pavlich 21, Crowley 21
Brownlow: 3. D.Swan (Coll), 2. J.Blair (Coll), 1. M.Pavlich (Frem)
At Patersons Stadium
Round 23 2011
Collingwood 20.12 (132)
Fremantle 8.4 (52)
Goals – Collingwood: Cloke 4, Krakouer 4, Wood 3, Pendlebury 2, Swan 2, Beams 2, Fasolo, Blair, Sidebottom
Fremantle: Crowley 2, Bradley 2, Fyfe 2, Lower, Sandilands
Disposals – Collingwood: Pendlebury 36, Swan 35, Beams 31, Didak 31, D.Thomas 28
Fremantle: Lower 37, Barlow 32, Hill 30, Fyfe 27, Sandilands 24, Palmer 24
Brownlow: 3. S.Pendlebury (Coll), 2. D.Swan (Coll), 1. A.Krakouer (Coll)
At Patersons Stadium
Round 8 2010
Collingwood 20.13 (133)
Fremantle 15.7 (97)
Goals – Collingwood: Cloke 5, Didak 3, Wood 2, Ball, Sidebottom, Anthony, Swan, Johnson, Davis, O’Bree, Macaffer, Beams, Pendlebury
Fremantle: Pavlich 2, Sandilands 2, Crowley 2, Ballantyne 2, Hasleby 2, Hill 2
Disposals – Collingwood: Swan 31, Johnson 27, Pendlebury 27, Didak 25, O’Bree 25
Fremantle: Barlow 34, Broughton 27, Duffield 26, Crowley 25, Sandilands 25
Brownlow: 3. S.Pendlebury (Coll), 2. T.Cloke (Coll), 1. A.Sandilands (Frem)
At Subiaco Oval
Round 14 2009
Collingwood 26.13 (169)
Fremantle 13.7 (85)
Goals – Collingwood: Anthony 4, Cloke 3, Dick 3, L.Brown 2, Medhurst 2, Lockyer 2, Didak 2, Dawes 2, Beams 2, Swan, O’Brien, Cox, Wellingham
Fremantle: Headland 3, Peake 2, Foster 2, Pavlich, Hasleby, Sandilands, Dodd, Schammer, Thornton
Disposals – Collingwood: Swan 41, Didak 39, O’Bree 28, Beams 22, Thomas 21
Fremantle: Hasleby 33, Sandilands 25, Duffield 25, Ibbotson 23, Broughton 20
Brownlow: 3. A.Didak (Coll), 2. D.Swan (Coll), 1. P.Hasleby (Frem)
At the MCG.
Round 22 2008
Collingwood 8.8 (56)
Fremantle 12.8 (80)
Goals – Collingwood: Anthony 2, Cloke 2, Davis, Fraser, Clarke, Goldsack
Fremantle: Bradley 3, Farmer 3, J.Carr, Duffield, Headland, Schammer, Campbell
Disposals – Collingwood: Pendlebury 24, Davis 23, Swan 21, Cox 20, Fraser 19, O’Bree 19
Fremantle: Palmer 27, Drum 24, Schammer 23, J.Carr 22, Farmer 21, Mundy 21
Brownlow: 3. R.Palmer (Frem), 2. L.McPharlin (Frem), 1. C.Hinkley (Frem)
At Subiaco Oval.
Stats and figures
- In his past two games against Fremantle, Dane Swan has received five of a possible six Brownlow votes. In his past five encounters, Swan has won a total of 171 possessions at an average of 34.2 per game. He has twice collected more than 40 disposals when facing the Purple Army. All of this must surely add up to a heavy tag coming his way on Saturday night.
- No Sandilands, no worries? Of course it’s not that simple, but the absence of Fremantle’s 211cm ruckman in round 14 last year allowed Darren Jolly to register 43 hitouts against Sandilands’ young understudies Jonathon Griffin and Zac Clarke. In his last three matches against the Magpies, Sandilands has recorded 37, 43 and 44 hitouts. It will come as a big relief to Collingwood fans to discover that Sandilands will be absent on Saturday night owing to a hamstring injury.
- Collingwood has made a habit of recording high scores against Fremantle. In fact, in the two club’s eight encounters since round 15, 2006, the Pies have scored over 100 points. On the contrary, the Dockers have only broken the 100 point barrier twice (and have done so on only five occasions against the Magpies since 1995).
- Subiaco Oval played host to Fremantle’s greatest ever win since its inception in 1995. On that occasion, Collingwood was the whipping boy. On Mother’s Day 2005, the Dockers put the visitors to the sword with a nine goal to nil opening term. It was all one way traffic from there as they ran out 112 point victors. Seven players had more than 20 disposals and three players (Matthew Pavlich, Luke McPharlin and Des Headland) kicked five or more goals. Conversely, Collingwood had only two players gather more than 20 possessions (Chad Morrison and Paul Licuria) yet could only muster 21 tackles.
- In his 15 games against Collingwood, Fremantle champion Matthew Pavlich has kicked a total of 40 goals at an average of 2.6 per game. Importantly, he has not played in a winning side against Collingwood since round 15, 2006, when he kicked four goals from 13 possessions when opposed to Jason Cloke. It may stay that way for a little while longer as he is set to miss another 2-3 weeks with an Achilles injury.
A foot in both camps
Brad Rowe, James Clement, Brodie Holland, Chris Tarrant, Paul Medhurst and John Anthony have all spent time at both Collingwood and Fremantle over the years. Key defender Michael Clark, who played one game for the Dockers in 1999, was drafted by Collingwood at season’s end but was forced to retire midway through 2000 due to persistent injuries. He went on to become an opening bowler for Western Australia in the Sheffield Shield. A little known fact is that Josh Mellington, who has played five games for Fremantle in the past two years, represented Collingwood at VFL level as a top-up player during 2010.
No place like home
During the mid-to-late 1990s, Collingwood was only allocated matches against interstate sides at Victoria Park as the AFL became mindful of the ground’s small capacity. The hallowed turf became heavenly for Pies fans whenever Fremantle came into town with the then-lowly Magpies scoring morale boosting wins over the new kids on the block.
Collingwood did not make the finals between 1995 and 2001 but could seemingly bank on a win against Freo at Victoria Park every winter. The biggest win came in round 15, 1997, when Nathan Buckley celebrated his 100th game with 43 possessions in Collingwood’s 100-point win.
Less than a year later, the Tony Shaw-led Magpies got the fright of their lives when Fremantle led all afternoon on an overcast and murky Sunday afternoon in Abbotsford. Fortunately the home side lifted late in the piece, kicking an accurate 19.5 to overhaul Fremantle’s 17.10. The match was memorable for two reasons. Sav Rocca kicked a career-high 11 goals to single-handedly sink the Dockers, while Freo’s Matthew ‘Spider’ Burton entered the record books with 54 hitouts, 21 possessions and two goals in a losing cause.
Monday Night Football
On the weekend of the AFL’s only Monday night match of the season, it’s pertinent to recall Collingwood’s only Monday night match against Fremantle.
Due to ANZAC Day falling on a Tuesday in round seven, 2000, Collingwood and Essendon were both given until the following Monday to play their next match. It certainly wasn’t one that left a great impression on the 33,947 strong crowd that turned up for a 7pm start at Colonial Stadium.
Skipper Nathan Buckley was heavily tagged by the reliable Shane Parker and without his influence the Magpies slumped to a 45-point deficit at three quarter time. They lifted with seven goals in the final term but were unable to bridge the gap against Damien Drum’s Dockers who ran out 22-point winners.
Glenn Freeborn and the Rocca brothers each kicked three goals while Paul Licuria had a team-high 29 possessions. Young gun Damien Adkins was badly concussed when slung to the ground in a Heath Black tackle, raising concerns about the hard surface at Colonial Stadium.
Injury List
Collingwood
Ben Hudson (leg soreness) – available
Ben Johnson (calf soreness) – available
Kyle Martin (leg) – test
Adam Oxley (hip) – test
Dayne Beams (quad) – 2 weeks
Michael Hartley (shoulder) – 2 weeks
Nick Maxwell (fractured wrist) – 2 weeks
Clinton Young (hamstring) – 2 weeks
Brodie Grundy (back) – 2-3 weeks
Lachlan Keeffe (knee) – 2-3 weeks
Jack Frost (knee) 5-6 weeks
Jackson Ramsay (wrist) – 6-7 weeks
Alan Toovey (knee) – season
Fremantle
Stephen Hill (quad) – test
Max Duffy (hamstring) – 2 weeks
Craig Miller (quad) – 2 weeks
Matthew Pavlich (Achilles) – 2-3 weeks
Anthony Morabito (knee) – 3-5 weeks
Aaron Sandilands (hamstring) – 5-6 weeks
Sam Mengola (knee) – 14 weeks
Kepler Bradley (knee) – season
Next Five Weeks
Collingwood
Round Eight – Geelong at the MCG
Round Nine – Sydney at the MCG
Round 10 – Brisbane at the Gabba
Round 11 – Melbourne at the MCG
Round 12 – Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium
Fremantle
Round Eight – Sydney at the SCG
Round Nine – Melbourne at Patersons Stadium
Round 10 – Adelaide at AAMI Stadium
Round 11 – BYE
Round 12 – Brisbane at Patersons Stadium
