It was the extraordinary moment of leadership that set the tone for Fremantle’s finals turnaround.
On the canvas, on the edge, and on the cusp of a straight-sets exit, Perth was a pit of nerves. But they didn’t permeate the four walls of the Fremantle Football Club.
In week one against Hawthorn, so many of the Dockers’ best players and leaders were down.
Reputations were dented, and a playing group was at risk of botching one of the great home and away seasons.
Enter co-vice-captain Caleb Serong.
Early in the week, the 25-year-old got up in front of his teammates and coaches and delivered a September-shifting sermon.
“Caleb spoke early in the week about how he didn’t think he performed well enough,” defender Corey Wagner told CODE Sports.
“He said he was selfish and he wanted to win so badly that he went away from enjoying football and being a leader.
“It takes a lot of courage to stand up in front of the boys and say that. He’s the one who leads the way with that openness and vulnerability. The young boys learnt a lot from that.
“Everyone else could take a leaf out of his book and a weight off their shoulders. The boys just wanted to play with freedom and belief.
“He’s the one who let it on the track during the week, and I think all the leaders did. You could see the way we started the game. That’s how we trained during the week.”
Last week against the Hawks, Serong finished with 20 disposals, six clearances and three inside 50s.
You could’ve forgiven him for dropping his head when Geelong tagger Oisin Mullin walked up to him at the very first centre bounce.
But leaders find a way.
When the Cats had momentum for a significant chunk of the third term, Serong won two massive centre clearances that resulted in goals.
In the last quarter, he put a massive dent in Geelong’s hopes with a stadium-shaking set shot goal.
Even with Mullin for company, Serong produced three more disposals than last week and 157 more metres gained.
“It probably sounds funny, but I feel like we felt less pressure this week,” Serong told Channel 7 post-game.
“We probably put a lot of pressure on ourselves last week to come out, be perfect, and make it almost flawless … and that’s just not finals footy.
“We could’ve gone one of two ways, and we went the right way.
“We lent in, we supported each other, we normalised those feelings that were all happening, and we threw our arms around each other.”
Serong wasn’t the only one to respond.
Josh Treacy dished up one of the worst performances of his career against the Hawks.
On Friday night, the key forward looked like he got more enjoyment out of crashing packs than he did kicking goals.
Patrick Voss was destroyed by James Sicily last week.
This week, he not only kept Tom Stewart to four intercept possessions, but he kicked four goals of his own and set Optus Stadium alight.
“I was thinking I was pretty scared for all of their opponents this week,” Wagner said.
“The big boys weren’t going to let it happen twice. I’m very proud of those boys.
“Voss was so smart in the way he went about it on Stewart. I wouldn’t have wanted to sit in JT’s way.
“They’re our leaders. They were always going to stand up and lead the way. They got it started.”
Fremantle has never kicked two goals in the first quarter of a final under Justin Longmuir.
Shai Bolton (26 disposals, 541 metres gained, seven inside 50s) kicked two in less than a minute to give the Dockers the dream start after he was barely sighted in week one.
Michael Frederick woke up from his 12-month long September nightmare and kicked two critical goals. Jye Amiss set up one of them with a clean one-handed gather and handball before kicking two of his own.
It started with the leaders.
But every single member of the 23 had an influence on the result.
“In the lead-up, we spoke about being reliable, not remarkable,” Longmuir said.
“We spoke about (retiring forward Sam Switkowski) Switta and how he’s the most reliable player I’ve ever coached.
“We want them to be reliable. And they were tonight.
“They were out to make amends.”
The Cats were always going to come.
Geelong dominated the opening stanza of the third term but couldn’t capitalise on the scoreboard, kicking 2.5 from a handful of inside 50s.
The Dockers bent. But they refused to break.
Because Fremantle has a golden rule — you can concede one goal, two, or even three. But the rut must stop at four.
And when Jeremy Cameron kicked his second to give the Cats an eight-point lead in red time of the third, Fremantle responded with a four-goal burst.
“The leaders have been good like that throughout the year, trying to keep a team to three scores,” Wagner said.
“If we can keep them to that, we can usually turn that momentum. It’s a goal for us. Our leaders have been doing it all year.”
Enter Wharfie Time with 75 seconds to play. But the job was just about done.
Back to 1-0.
Back to work.
And back to a preliminary final for the first time since 2015.
As Longmuir declared post-match, “the job’s not done.”
JACKSON EXPOSES CATSGlenn McFarlane
If finals are made for those who create the magic, it was fitting that Fremantle’s ‘unicorn’ Luke Jackson conjured a seven-minute third-term stretch that helped to save the Dockers’ season and ended Geelong’s year of living dangerously.
Just when the Dockers looked in grave danger of an embarrassing straight-sets exit and the Cats appeared headed for another preliminary final, up stepped Jackson with an almost single-handed determination to flip the script.
On the day that American football took over Melbourne with a brilliant package, the AFL responded spectacularly with a high-class display in one of the best high-octane finals of recent years.
Freo is off to Sydney for a preliminary final showdown with the Swans after securing a stirring 14-point victory, while Geelong’s season is over but only after a brave, gutsy effort to run down the Dockers.
This was a game of momentum that had everything – heroes, a few villains, huge momentum swings, the return of ‘Wharfie Time’ and a breakneck speed that even had the packed Perth Stadium and those watching on television heaving for breath.
There was even a hint of controversy when Ollie Dempsey was denied a possible goal when his scissor-kick shot from midair in the goalsquare was deemed to have come off Matt Johnson’s arm after the goal umpire had deemed it was touched.
If the margin had been closer, this could have been a far bigger issue.
Freo kicked the first two goals of the game within two minutes and even before the Cats had had a possession.
Given they had only kicked five goals in the qualifying final against Hawthorn resembling rabbits in the spotlight, this time the Dockers started with the look of cold-blooded assassins looking for a kill.
They twice led by 31 points in the first half but failed to capitalise on it. In doing so, they left the door ajar and the Cats barged through it early in the third term to grab the lead for the first time in the match, pushing out to a 10-point lead.
All the old scars from Fremantle’s three-decade past started to look like open wounds before the hulking frame of Jackson intervened with purpose and power.
He kicked two majors from free-kicks deep into red time of the third term, the bookends of a four-goal period that resurrected the hopes of the packed Perth Stadium crowd.
In between he ‘sharked’ the ruck duel over young Cats big man Mitch Edwards and gifted it off to Patrick Voss who nailed a goal that was so desperately needed.
Jackson had seized control of this game in a third quarter just as he had five years ago when he took over the ruck mantle from Max Gawn and helped lift the Demons to a flag with a powerhouse second half.
His dominance over 21-year-old Edwards and Mark Blicavs shows why the Cats are keen on chasing an experienced ruckman in the trade period. That’s why they chased St Kilda’s Rowan Marshall last off-season and will likely do the same next month.
It pushed the Dockers out to 15-point lead at the last change but this intense clash went right down to the wire as Geelong fought back in the final term.
When the unlikely figure of Tom Stewart nailed a late goal with only 75 seconds to spare, the difference was only eight points – and the Cats knew they still had a sniff.
That’s when ‘Wharfie Time’ was finally enacted, and it made for a roar around the ground that was like no other. It also lifted the players who stormed the ball forward and Voss kicked the match-sealer, his fourth of the game.
The Dockers’ two premiership players, Jackson and Bolton, were outstanding when it mattered. Bolton nailed the two goals early, and had 10 scoring involvements, while Jackson did it with two goals and 12 score involvements.
He also took an important mark in the dying seconds when his team needed him most.
Geelong were magnificent, with Ollie Henry kicking a career-best five goals, Patrick Dangerfield leaving nothing left in the locker, Bailey Smith had a game-high 29 disposals, Jeremy Cameron kicked his first two goals since round 15, and the rest of the Cats never gave in.
But in the end, the power of Jackson, and the pressure of the Dockers, prevailed and their dream of winning a maiden premiership is only two wins away.
DOCKERS HIT WHARFIE TIME TO BOOK PRELIM FINAL DATE
— Brad Elborough
Fremantle will head into a preliminary final against Sydney with its feared forward line firing again.
The Dockers overcame a fierce Geelong fightback to win a thrilling Semi-Final at Optus Stadium on Friday night by 14 points.
The Dockers side that managed just five goals in their Qualifying Final loss to Hawthorn a week earlier, rediscovered their attacking spark against the Cats, booting six goals in a blistering opening quarter and had 10.5 on the board by halftime.
Shai Bolton set the tone for the 18.12 (120) to 16.10 (106) victory and all the big names hit the scoreboard.
After managing just four possessions in the first half against Hawthorn, Bolton had his first goal inside the opening minute on Friday night.
He had two goals on the board before a Geelong player had even touched the ball.
Bolton’s teammates went with him and the Dockers led by 31 points in that first term before holding off the inevitable fightback the Cats would mount.
CHANCES LEFT HANGING …
A finals-hardened Geelong side was never going to surrender meekly. This Cats side played on six of past seven preliminary final weekends.
They entered the Semi-Final on a seven-game winning streak, averaging 114 points a game during that run, and they gradually worked their way back into the contest.
Oliver Henry was at the forefront of the fightback, kicking five goals as Geelong began to claw back Fremantle’s lead.
He’s been massive over the past two months. His return in the past eight games is 22 goals, hitting the scoreboard in every outing.
Henry’s goal early in the third term signalled the momentum was shifting.
Geelong dominated the early stages of the second half but failed to make Fremantle pay, managing just 1.6 during one sustained period of pressure.
Patrick Dangerfield missed a set shot less than a minute into the quarter, while Ollie Dempsey’s spectacular flying soccer kick produced another agonising moment after umpires could not determine whether Matt Johnson had touched the ball before it crossed the goal line.
It was somehow called a behind.
Then Jeremy Cameron kicked his second goal with about four minutes remaining in the third term.
Suddenly, the Cats had kicked five of the previous six goals and led by eight points.
… BUT FREO HAS A UNICORN
Fremantle needed something special.
It had Luke Jackson.
The Dockers’ ruckman took control when the game was at its most precarious, kicking two goals in the final four minutes of the third term and helping create another for Patrick Voss as Fremantle slammed four goals onto the board to wrestle back momentum.
His return was enormous. Jackson finished with 25 touches and 25 hit outs to go with eight clearances.
His work in the middle of the ground was why Fremantle led well early.
WORK DONE EARLY
The Dockers had desperately needed a fast start after a recent decline in their first-half scoring.
Across their opening 13 games, Fremantle averaged 52 points by halftime and lost only once.
But over their previous 11 games, that average had fallen to just 35 points, with the Dockers losing four times.
Against Geelong, they were back to their explosive best.
They had 10.5 on the board at halftime and never trailed during the opening two quarters, giving themselves enough of a buffer to withstand Geelong’s second-half surge.
Most importantly, the players who had struggled against Hawthorn were back in the game.
SCOREBOARD
FREMANTLE 6.2 10.5 15.6 18.12 120
GEELONG 2.1 7.2 12.8 16.10 106
BEST
Dockers: Jackson, Bolton, Young, Treacy, Brayshaw, Reid.
Cats: Smith, O Henry, Dangerfield, Dempsey, Humphries, Mullin,
GOALS
Dockers: Voss 4, Jackson 2, Bolton 2, Dudley 2, Frederick 2, Amiss 2, Treacy, Cox, Young, Serong.
Cats: O Henry 5, Neale 3, Cameron 2, Dangerfield 2, Mannagh 2, Wiltshire, Stewart.
INJURIES
Dockers: Nil. Cats: Edwards (finger).
59,725 at Optus Stadium