Clayton Oliver,shadowed by James Aish,managed just 12 of his 36 possessions in the second half,while Jack Viney had just 10 after the long break. The Dees had not lost since round 19 last year - to the Western Bulldogs at an empty MCG.
“We’ve got a pretty clear saying at the club:we win and learn,and we lose and learn,” Goodwin said. “We’ll find out some reasons,dig a bit deeper and get better
“It’s a reminder of what’s important to you,it will be a reminder of how the game should look for us. It will be a reminder of what we need to bring every week to games of footy.
“You need to do it for long periods against good teams and Fremantle were a good team and too good for us today. Is it a loss we have to have? We’ll just keep getting better on the back of it.”
The match swung dramatically in the third quarter when the Dockers piled on eight goals against a Demons defence that was both undermanned and without the additional cover that comes under the six-six-six rule. No team has managed this many goals in a quarter against the Dees since Geelong in round 23 last year.
The catalyst for the change came in the middle,where it was not David Mundy who provided the spark but lesser likes Aish and Blake Acres,and young gun Andrew Brayshaw.
Beaten by Max Gawn in the first half,Sean Darcy shone in the ruck,putting the cherry on top by pushing forward from the centre bounce for a key goal.
If this was the gallops,there would be a stewards’ inquiry into the Dockers’ stunning form reversal after insipid losses to Gold Coast and Collingwood (at home) in the wet.
“I said it last week,you get ahead of yourself in this game and you get what you deserve,” Dockers coach Justin Longmuir said.
“We understand,Melbourne were missing a couple tonight and got some injuries early which were disruptive to them. We played our best footy but we’ll review it like we reviewed the last couple of weeks internally we’ll stick to the process.
“We understand there’s another big challenge next week. It’s a long season if you ride ups and downs. We’ll enjoy this win but not getting past next week.”
Milestone man Melksham
Things may not have worked out for Jake Melksham the way he has wanted the past 12 months,but there’s one honour that cannot be taken away from him — membership in the 200-game club. Though he was not part of the Dees’ historic premiership last year,the MCC Members showed their appreciation of his milestone,giving him a warm ovation as he ran onto the field — as warranted for a player who starred in their 2018 season. He was chaired off after the game.
Frederick’s flick
Michael Frederick has put in a nomination for the goal of the week,and if there was an award for goal assists,he’d be well-placed to win that,too. The Dockers forward set his team alight when he ran around Trent Rivers,who had over-committed on the mark,to dash inside 50 for a long-range goal. His assist was arguably better. Surging towards goal under heavy pressure,Frederick tapped the ball back into the space behind him,allowing Lachie Schultz to collect and snap truly.
BEST:Narrm: Oliver,Viney,Fritsch,Jordon.Fremantle: Lobb,Brayshaw,Schultz,Darcy,Brodie,Serong,Frederick.