MELBOURNE squandered a dominant opening quarter to eventually go down to Fremantle by 46 points at Subiaco Oval on Sunday.
The Demons led by 34 points early in the second quarter before being overrun by Freo, who eventually won 16.18 (114) to 10.8 (68).
The win gave Fremantle some redemption for their round seven loss to the Demons at the MCG, in which they surrendered a 50 point lead.
Fremantle skipper Matthew Pavlich again showed his class with five goals to steer his team to victory. Matthew Bate, Brad Miller and Michael Newton each kicked two for the Demons.
Melbourne were quick out of the blocks with Aaron Davey bouncing back from his one week absence to dominate in the midfield early with hard running and creative passing.
Cale Morton opened the scoring with less than two minutes on the clock with the first of his two goals for the quarter and was quickly followed by Miller.
Brilliant defensive pressure from Austin Wonaeamirri forced a turnover to spill to Newton, and the young forward slotted a clever banana kick to put his side three goals clear.
Fremantle appeared overawed by the Demons’ attack on the ball and struggled to find a winner anywhere on the ground.
The Demons held the home-side goalless for the quarter and took a 29 point lead into the first change.
The second quarter proved to be a complete turnaround of the first with Freo re-discovering their desire and lifting their work-rate across the ground.
Fremantle rookies Chris Mayne and Brock O’Brien combined with Byron Schammer to provide their side with drive out of the centre and Pavlich came into the game with two goals for the quarter.
Goalless to the nine-minute mark of the second quarter, Freo rattled up five unanswered goals as Melbourne struggled to match their pace.
The visitors did not manage a shot on goal for the final 20 minutes of the quarter and the sides went to the long break on level pegging.
Brad Miller provided a bright spot for the Demons with his second goal to open the third quarter but Freo re-asserted their dominance with another string of five unanswered goals.
Paul Wheatley, Bate and Chris Johnson were working hard for the Demons but could not stem the relentless flow of attacks into Fremantle's forward 50.
Pavlich kicked two for the quarter as Schammer continued to blanket Nathan Jones and Mark Johnson quelled the impact of Davey.
Freo held a 34-point lead at the final break and goals to Chris Tarrant and Brett Peake early in the final term made things almost impossible for the Dees.
Bate popped up with two consolation goals for Melbourne and Newton also kicked a final-term major, but the damage had been done.
Wheatley, Bate, Davey, Chris Johnson, Cameron Bruce and Simon Buckley were among Melbourne’s best but the Demons struggled to find a player who had an impact over four quarters.
FREMANTLE 0.2 5.9 11.15 16.18 (114)
MELBOURNE 5.1 6.3 7.5 10.8 (68)
Goals
Fremantle: Matthew Pavlich 5, Luke McPharlin 3, Garrick Ibbotson, Byron Schammer, Josh Carr, Shaun McManus, Brock O'Brien, Aaron Sandilands, Chris Tarrant, Brett Peake
Melbourne: Cale Morton 2, Brad Miller 2, Matthew Bate 2, Michael Newton 2, Paul Johnson, Mark Jamar
Best
Fremantle: Matthew Pavlich, Byron Schammer, Garrick Ibbotson, Ryan Crowley, Luke McPharlin, Shaun McManus.
Melbourne: Chris Johnson, Paul Wheatley, Simon Buckley, Cameron Bruce, Matthew Bate, Nathan Jones.
Injuries
Fremantle: Brock O'Brien (hamstring)
Melbourne: Nil
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Kennedy, Hendrie, Avon
Official crowd: 31,638 at Subiaco Oval
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily of the clubs or the AFL.
