Dockers unconvincing winners in latest round of AFL.
A sensational individual effort from Fremantle on-baller Nat Fyfe has inspired his side to a 22-point victory over the Adelaide Crows at Patersons Stadium.
Fyfe kicked 4.2 and had 29 disposals to help his side to an important 11.9 (75) to 7.11 (53) win despite a late comeback effort by the Crows.
Thanks largely to his career-high haul of four goals, Fyfe got the Dockers home almost single-handily after his team lost every key indicator which said the Crows should have walked away with the four competition points.
“The last couple of weeks we’ve been a little bit off and it’s good back to four quarters of solid effort so we’re pretty happy about that,” Fyfe said.
“It was very slippery out here and scrappy and a lot of stoppages.
“Our coaches want an accountable brand of footy where everyone has to buy in and we’re not a team of superstars and it’s worked so far pretty well for us this year and we’ve got to continue that going into the finals.”
AFL match investigators are sure to dish out a heap of fines for the pre-game wrestle-fest when well over half the players on the ground were involved.
Ironically, the defensive oriented Dockers notched their important win and 12th of the season with an equal record-low 33 inside 50m entries for a side to still take winning points.
A big scuffle before the opening bounce is likely to inject a hefty haul of melee fines into AFL coffers after Dockers lightweights Danyle Pearce and Michael Walters sparked anger in a bunch of Crows defenders.
In what looms as a crucial game in helping to shape the bottom half of the top eight, Fremantle face Carlton next week at Etihad Stadium
The Crows will face fellow South Australian side Port Adelaide in what is always a hotly-contented clash, with the extra ingredient of a possible finals place adding spice to the game.
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