Fyfe goal at the death puts Freo over the line against Swans

Dual Brownlow medallist Nat Fyfe has drawn some criticism for his goal kicking this season.

The champ had 2.16 next to his name in nine rounds before Saturday night’s clash with Sydney at Optus Stadium.

His third goal for the year, kicked very late in the last quarter, was enough to get Fremantle over the line against the Swans, by just one point, 12.14 (86) to 13.6 (84).

Fyfe’s heroics came after Lance Franklin had kicked his sixth goal for the game and third for the term.

It looked like Franklin had got his side over the line and Sydney had become the first visiting team to win at Optus Stadium this season.

But Fremantle was able to hold out Sydney for the last four minutes after Fyfe’s goal, although the Swans continued to attack.

What could have been Franklin’s seventh goal, another bomb from outside 50m, was touched on the line by Fremantle defender Luke Ryan with just 14 seconds left on the clock.

Wasted chances

While Sydney looked in control for most of the first half, the Dockers dominated the third term to take momentum into the final quarter – and ultimately set up an exciting win.

Veterans Nate Fyfe and David Mundy produced some classic form during the term, as the Dockers saw a lot more of the football in their forward line than Sydney in the quarter – 21 inside 50s to seven.

The home side looked to have blown too many chances though, before Adam Cerra found himself all alone at the back of a pack 30 minutes into the quarter.

The Dockers kicked 4.5 to just 0.1 for the term to turn a 15-point deficit into a 13-point advantage going into the final term.

Importantly, two of Rory Lobb’s four goals came in the term.

Welcome home Buddy

While opposition teams continue to have issues playing their best footy at Optus Stadium, Lance Franklin seems to love it.

This was his second visit to the venue since it was unveiled for the 2018 season.

He played in that first game at the ground and booted eight goals against West Coast; still the most from any player.

He kept up his average of two goals a quarter at the ground to give the Swans a four-point lead at the first break.

Callum Mills set the tone for the game from the opening bounce, with nine touches for the term. He finished with 26; 17 of them contested.

He found both Franklin and Tom Papley inside 50 in the first term; both resulting in goals.

Franklin kicked his third goal midway through the second term from inside the centre square (65m out), after dodging three Dockers tacklers, to give the Swans a 15-point lead.

When Will Hayward ran into an open goal one minute later, that margin ballooned out to 21 points.

Mick’s message

Fremantle star Michael Walters chose the best way to answer those criticising his form this season.

The All Australian returned to the midfield on Saturday and finished with 23 touches and a goal.

The pressure and chat about his form has clearly weighing on the champ’s mind.

When he kicked Fremantle’s sixth goal, late in the second term and just after Hayward’s effort, he celebrated with some bizarre signals.

He first looked to pretend to write something with an imaginary pen on imaginary paper, then signalled with his hand as though it was a puppet saying “blah, blah, blah”.

It was either a message to the media, or to his own club after it extended his contract last year by just one season.

Big Tom soldiers on

It’s incredible that Tom Hickey is even playing at the moment.

It was a super effort to push through on Saturday night.

Hickey was sidelined with a knee injury he sustained in Round 5 against Greater Western Sydney.

He was diagnosed with a PCL and was expected to miss 6-8 weeks.

He missed one.

The big ruckman looked like his luck had run out four minutes into the opening term against Fremantle.

When the ball was cleared from a centre bounce down, he stayed on the ground.

He limped around, clearly struggling, for two minutes before heading to the bench.

But he returned less than 10 minutes later and had a considerable impact on the game.

His influence dropped in the second half, as Sean Darcy got on top for Fremantle.

Hickey probably shouldn’t play against Carlton next Sunday, but he probably will.

DOCKERS 3.2 6.6 10.11 12.14 86

SWANS 4.0 9.3 9.4 13.6 84

ELBOROUGH’S BEST Dockers: Lobb, Fyfe, Mundy, Walters, Cerra, Darcy. Swans: Franklin, Mills, Parker, Kennedy, Heeney, Dawson.

GOALS Docker: Lobb 4; Schultz 2; Taberner, Serong, Cerra, Walters, Treacey, Fyfe. Swans: Franklin 6; Papley 2; Warner, Rowbottom, Hayward, Florent, Heeney.

INJURIES Dockers: Taberner (ankle) replaced by Blakely. Swans: Fox (eye) replaced by Clarke.

UMPIRES Power, Dalgleish, Hosking.

VENUE Optus Stadium

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

BRAD ELBOROUGH’S VOTES

3 Franklin (Swans)

2 Lobb (Dockers)

1 Mills (Swans)