Matthew Pavlich was dubbed ‘Super Pav’ after kicking nine goals when Fremantle took on Carlton in Round 16 at the MCG in 2005.
Pavlich was only five years into his AFL career when he lead a stirring 35-point victory over the Blues finishing with 19 possessions to go with his nine goals.
Pavlich recalled how early in the game he was able to get on the end of some great work up in the midfield.
“I kicked four goals in the first quarter and then I was able to sustain that form.
“To kick so many in such a big game was a highlight,” Pavlich said.
The four opening quarter goals put Fremantle in the lead, Freo (8.3) Carlton (4.3).
Another key player of the match was Shane Parker who played his 200th game.
The former skipper said the game was highlighted when Parker kicked a goal in the milestone match.
“Shane was the first Fremantle player to play 200 games.
“He’s a person of high integrity, really strong values, has a great perspective on life and someone we admire hugely down here at Fremantle.
“He was a well-respected club man and someone I admired a lot,” he said.
Chris Connolly Fremantle's then coach identified Pavlich’s dominating presence on the field and used it to his advantage.
"We repositioned Matthew closer to goal, which was pretty important to our structure,” Connolly said.
Connolly also surprised everyone by using Ryan Crowley to tag Nick Stevens in the midfield.
Crowley kicked two goals in the first quarter and held the experienced midfielder to just 13 touches, in what would be the start of a successful tagging career for the Freo Life Member.
Byron Schammer was put into the back pocket on Eddie Betts along with David Mundy and Scott Thornton who provided the run out of defence.
Carlton had Brad Fisher in his first match for a year after a knee reconstruction, in which he managed 12 touches.
Skipper Anthony Koutoufides turned back the clock to his MCG glory days with a long goal and a number of centre clearances, while Troy Longmuir bagged a couple.
But the Freo Dockers always looked to be richer in talent and a late-term rally effectively killed the contest.
Steven Dodd did an outstanding tagging job on Matthew Lappin, the milestone man Shane Parker wore down the out-of-sorts Fevola, while Crowley on Stevens was the real bonus for Fremantle.
Pavlich kicked his ninth goal in stunning style on the final siren, which saw fans absolutely ecstatic about the result
“(It was) a fantastic win and a memorable match,” Pavlich said.
The final score was Fremantle 24.8 (152) beating Carlton 17.15 (117) and although the highlight was Pavlich’s big bag the 339-gamer says it’s rare for one player to kick that again in the modern game.
“There’s a whole team defence these days, there’s not necessarily a one-on-one match up that it tended to be years ago,” Pavlich said.
“The other focus now is there’s less reliance on one player, it’s more about a forward line or a team kicking goals as compared to one individual.
“I think this is the way of the modern game and the fans seem to enjoy it.”
11 years on Fremantle are set to take on Carlton in round five, this Sunday at Domain Stadium.
Michael Johnson is the only other current player who played against Carlton back in 2005.
Both teams are still yet to win a game and Freo’s main focus for this weekend’s game is to get back to playing their best football.
“Unfortunately the start of the season, we’ve been a long way short of our best and we’re wanting to improve our brand of football and get it back to the heights it has been in the previous couple of seasons,” he said.
“We strongly believe that we can, we’ve put in a lot of hard work.”
Will Pav deliver another “Super Pav" performance and assist the boys in their first win of the season?
