Fremantle Dockers destroy Melbourne Demons at Optus Stadium after blitzing the clearances

Fremantle have produced a clearance belting that has never been seen before and is unlikely to be see again to beat Melbourne by 50 points at Optus Stadium.

The Dockers entered the match with an obvious ruck advantage, given their pairing of Sean Darcy and Luke Jackson competed with Harrison Petty and Jacob van Rooyen while injured Melbourne captain Max Gawn watched from the coach’s box.

But even the most optimistic Fremantle fan couldn’t have dreamt up what happened at the stoppages. The Dockers were able to do whatever they liked on the way to a 17.14 (116) to 10.6 (66) victory that surged them back into the top four.

The Dockers won the clearances 47-15 and led the inside-50s 60-47 in a commanding display.

It was obvious they were in for a day out early. Fremantle led the clearances 14-0 at quarter time which gave them a 21-6 advantage with inside-50s and only inaccuracy prevented them from leading by more than 21 points.

Caleb Serong and Andrew Brayshaw led the possessions for Fremantle with a combined 22 disposals. Defenders Steven May and Jake Bowey had the most touches for the Dees. They had eight each.

Those stats told the story. Fremantle’s midfield pumped the ball forward and Melbourne’s defenders desperately tried to clean up the mess.

When Melbourne finally won a clearance early in the second term, they made the most of it with a goal to Caleb Windsor. It wasn’t pretty though. Windsor soccered the ball from 25m out and it rolled through.

In contrast, Fremantle repeatedly took the ball out the front of the stoppage and were under no pressure while driving the ball inside 50.

Fremantle extended their lead to 36 points during the second term. At one point they had 90 disposals in their forward half to Melbourne’s 25.

But the Demons found a way to use the predictability of Fremantle’s stoppage dominance to win the ball back in defence and try to hurt the Dockers on the rebound. They scored two goals during time-on to van Rooyen only to have their hearts broken by a Michael Walters goal with a set shot after the half-time siren.

By that point Fremantle led the clearances 24-3. It was the first time since Champion Data started taking stats in 1999 that any team had won less than five clearances in a half.

The Demons made some changes at the long break and came out with more aggression. They were determined to put pressure on the ball carrier and pushed players up the field but that only resulted in the Dockers kicking goals when players got out the back.

It was getting ugly and when Walters kicked his third, Fremantle led by 53 points.

Alex Pearce then injured his arm which gave them immediate defensive issues and Melbourne finally got some reward for effort with three goals in nine minutes to make it a 36-point game with one quarter remaining.

But it was too little too late. Fremantle kicked the first four goals of the final term and piled on six goals for the quarter for a thumping win.