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Western Bulldogs implode as Fremantle secure rare finals berth with tense victory

A do-or-die thriller has ended with the Dockers in the finals and Luke Beveridge’s Dogs almost certainly out.
Luke Beveridge’s Bulldogs are set to miss the finals after Pat Voss’s Dockers claimed a big win. Credit: Channel 7/Getty

Western Bulldogs implode as Fremantle secure rare finals berth with tense victory

A do-or-die thriller has ended with the Dockers in the finals and Luke Beveridge’s Dogs almost certainly out.

The Western Bulldogs have been left to rue a second-quarter implosion after Fremantle secured a rare finals berth in a do-or-die thriller on Sunday, holding on for a 17.10 (112) to 14.13 (97) victory.

Both teams needed a win to guarantee September action, with the loser’s hopes relying on Gold Coast suffering the most unlikely upset defeat to injury-hit Essendon in Wednesday night’s rescheduled home-and-away finale.

The Dockers ensured they could relax with a run of eight unanswered goals in the second term and early third proved a winning buffer despite a late Dogs fightback.

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While the Bulldogs (14-9) now loom as the odd team out in an AFL season to remember, Fremantle (16-7) will enter their second finals campaign in 10 years having won 12 of their last 14 games.

Justin Longmuir’s side will host reigning premiers Brisbane, Hawthorn or Gold Coast in an elimination final.

Star forwards Pat Voss, Jye Amiss and Josh Treacy kicked three goals apiece while Luke Jackson, taking the field following a trying week after the death of his partner Kelsey Browne’s mother, chipped in with two alongside Michael Frederick and Shai Bolton.

“We’ve only got our foot in the door now so we’ll really get to work in the next couple of weeks and hone in on hopefully what’s a good period of footy for us,” Treacy told Channel 7.

Caleb Serong (24 disposals), Jordan Clark (23), Bolton (19 touches, two goals) and Neil Erasmus (20 touches, six clearances, one goal) were all important in Fremantle’s crucial win.

Dockers captain Alex Pearce was superb in blunting Bulldogs spearhead Sam Darcy and Brennan Cox kept Aaron Naughton (two goals) mostly quiet.

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“We played them early in the year, Coxy did a great job on Naughton and I got a bit of a bath by Darcy — I only played him a quarter and I got taken off him, that’s how well I went,” Pearce told Channel 7.

“So I took some lessons from that, and I can’t give away all the secrets, but you look at some film, work with our backs coach Jade Rawlings and we had a really clear plan how we were going to beat them, negate them and bring our strengths.”

The only sour note for Fremantle was a pec injury to Corey Wagner, who is set to miss multiple weeks. Sam Switkowski was forced off the ground in the final quarter with a knee concern but he is expected to be fine.

Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli did all he could to lead his side to September with 33 disposals, 11 clearances and two goals.

The Dockers kicked two of the first three goals against the run of play before the Bulldogs’ early dominance started to tell.

The home side led 4.5 to 2.2 at quarter-time on the back of a 19-10 inside-50 count.

But the game was flipped on its head after the break, as Fremantle seized control with seven unanswered goals in the second-quarter avalanche.

Their midfield lifted behind Serong, Amiss delivered with two superb snaps, one from either pocket, and Bolton got in on the act in the front half.

The margin ballooned to 32 points before Joel Freijah ended a 44-minute Bulldogs goal drought with a much-needed major in the third term.

Both sides had chances as the intensity went up another gear, and late goals to substitute Arthur Jones and Bontempelli kept the Dogs alive.

But an important Voss major on the run, followed by a trademark celebration, steadied the visitors, who led by 32 points at the final change.

Voss and Treacy kicked the first two goals of the final quarter and the Dockers held their opponents at arm’s length from there despite some desperate efforts from the Dogs, who kicked seven goals to four in the last term.

Bontempelli fought hard in a losing battle with 33 disposals, 11 clearances and two goals.

Tom Liberatore (27 disposals, eight clearances) also toiled and Freijah finished with three majors.

- with AAP

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