Fremantle break Sydney with 37-point win

Fremantle are making history and Sydney are in danger of becoming history.
This much was clear on Saturday after the Dockers battered the Swans by 37 points in
a slogging AFL encounter at the SCG, their first victory in the harbour city since
1996.
Shrugging off the distraction of Michael Johnson's cocaine-related arrest earlier in
the week, Fremantle were better where it mattered, claiming a 32-point halftime
advantage and ultimately winning 14.16 (100) to 9.9 (63).
Under skies that were first sunny, then grey, then rain-drenched, the Dockers again
showed themselves to be a team on the rise in 2010, led expertly by captain Matthew
Pavlich.
Their tackling was another standout feature, winning the count 97-76 to demonstrate
what coach Mark Harvey called "malice".
"There's a lot of malice about our tackling. Sometimes we might not be strong enough
because of the personnel, but it's the intent that's important," said Harvey.
"Obviously a lot of us weren't a part of it 14 years ago, in fact I don't think any
of us were, so if we can keep breaking some insignificant barriers down that all
help us towards being in the top four at this stage, we'll take it.
"We really held sway when they came at us, there were long periods of time when they
had the ball around their forward 50m where we just managed to make it an even
playing field without them getting any momentum."
There was a lack of application from the Swans, who have slid dramatically with a
third consecutive loss.
"You certainly would (expect the effort to be there) and it's a concern, because we
talked about it during the week, we talked about it last week," said coach Paul
Roos.
"The most basic effort of playing a contact sport is effort, if you don't have
effort you've got no chance to win, so I was really disappointed in the first half
and talked about it at halftime.
"It's surprising but clearly we've got to find an answer to that quickly, because if
you don't have effort you get beaten by everyone."
Pavlich did most of his damage in the first half when the game was won, ably
supported by youngster Nathan Fyfe and the more seasoned duo of Paul Hasleby and
David Mundy.
Though towering ruckman Aaron Sandilands won the majority of the hit-outs as
expected, it was the contribution of his offsider Kepler Bradley that truly
imbalanced the Swans.
"He plays awkward and sometimes he develops an awkward angle to the game, and he
managed to do that at times," said Harvey.
"I guess it would be fair to say that he's unpredictable."
A bitter defeat was made worse for Sydney by injuries to Tadhg Kennelly, who
appeared to damage his left knee in the first minute and was not seen again, and
Daniel Bradshaw, seen icing a knee in the second half.



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