Saturday night just provided more evidence that Freo’s meteoric rise over the past two seasons is a lot like filmmaker George Lucas’s seminal ‘Star Wars’ series.
If last year’s stellar Elimination Final victory over Geelong was like the Rebellion’s victory over the Empire in ‘Episode IV: A New Hope,’ then the Cats’ mauling of Freo on Saturday in the intergalactic battle for the second rung on the AFL ladder was ‘Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.’
The young, injury-riddled Freo squad went to Simonds Stadium with the zeal, passion and urgency of Jedi Knight hopefuls. But by the end of the third term, they were being routed by Geelong’s storm troopers, several of whom are battle-hardened by multiple premierships.
For Freo fans, the early, ominous on-field scenes likely recalled the ubiquitous line famously spoken by a different character in every Star Wars film: “I have a bad feeling about this.”
But as painful as it was for the Freo faithful to watch the mauling, there indeed were signs of new hopes – Viv Michie’s debut and Tom Sheridan’s first AFL goal. And next week’s home clash with St. Kilda will likely feature the return of Freo’s own ‘Jedis’ – Matthew Pavlich and Aaron Sandilands.
On the silver screen, Sith Lord Darth Vader’s pummeling of Jedi Luke Skywalker with a light saber in ‘Empire,’ hardened Skywalker against his opponents in the next episode and the Empire fell. Saturday night’s bludgeoning with the footy might be the necessary toughening the Freo Dockers' skin needs, before finals, when they hope to reign supreme. If Freo are serious about directing and starring as heroes in their own epic film, better they flub the first takes now, than the September finals shoot.
That might not be what Freo fans want to hear at the moment. The whole ‘undefeated’ feeling of the last nine rounds was heavenly. Despite all the injuries, the Melbourne pundits at last started hyping Freo’s flag chances. Maybe that’s why the Geelong loss felt even more demoralising than the heart breaker against Essendon in round 3, or the Launceston lashing by Hawthorn in round 4.
Against the Cats, it seemed like Freo's aggressive tackling was a nanosecond too late, or when another Freo tackler came to help, it freed up another Cat to receive a handy handball in space. Or, the tackling was too high and gifted the Cats important free kicks.
In the third term, Freo’s attackers couldn’t launch, making journeys into their forward 50 seem like a journey to a galaxy far, far away. If Geelong had kicked straight in that term, when they kicked 2.9, the damage could've been much worse.
Still, there's huge upside.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to calculate the favourable math in Freo’s favour: The record remains a sparkling, 9-3-1; Freo sits just one position out of the coveted top four; seven of the remaining nine home-and-away matches are against opponents outside the top eight. As many as five fallen stars may return fresh in the next week or two.
One of the returnees is captain Pavlich, the Dockers’ own version of Jedi master, Obi-wan Kenobi. And beyond Obi-wan, is there really a wiser master to school the young Freo Jedi hopefuls than coach Ross Lyon – a delightfully dry-humoured Yoda, minus the pointy ears, green skin, bad teeth and faulty syntax?
The force is with Fremantle.
But winning the cup won’t happen without defeats that bring the team’s hopes crashing back down to Earth.
And if, on the last Saturday in September, the Fremantle Dockers can make the MCG the site of an unparalleled celebration, the way the rebels did on the fictional forest moon of Endor after finally dismantling the Empire in ‘Episode VI: Return of the Jedi,’ it truly will be Freo’s – and footy’s – ultimate Hollywood ending.
