A turbulent week was put to bed by a last-gasp goal when the Fremantle Dockers met West Coast in the first Derby of 2006.
Leading in to the round six clash, Freo sat in sixth place and had just come off the infamous match against in Launceston against St Kilda, known as 'Sirengate.'
Flashback: the choas of 'sirengate'
Things started well for Freo in the sunny conditions, with the home Freo crowd voicing their appreciation of a five-point quarter-time lead.
But Freo’s prospects of winning were about to get considerably harder early in the second term when Aaron Sandilands left the match with a suspected broken jaw.
Freo coach Chris Connolly was left without a specialist ruckman to compete against Eagles ruckman Dean Cox.
Swingman and former number four draft pick Graham Polak took on the ruck duties and was able to limit Cox’s effectiveness.
Despite missing their number one big-man, Freo managed to keep West Coast at bay through the second term, holding a two-point lead at half-time.
The game went up a notch in the second half, with Matthew Pavlich booting three third-quarter goals, helping Fremantle to a three-point lead at the final change.
The final term saw the lead change numerous times, but the momentum looked like it was against Freo.
With two-and-a-half minutes left, and facing a two-point deficit, the ball was deep in Freo’s defensive half.
Michael Johnson found himself in a three-on-one contest across halfback, but was able to force a turnover and help the ball toward Freo’s end.
After the ball made it in to Freo’s 50-metre zone, a desperate shot at goal from the boundary by Josh Carr could only manage a behind.
With the deficit at one point and time almost up, the ball was again in Freo’s defence.
Steven Dodd halved a tough marking contest at halfback, bringing the ball to ground, where Byron Schammer swooped.
Schammer fired a handpass to Heath Black, who weaved past his opponent, turned on to his left and hit up Peter Bell on the wing.
Bell looked for a target inside Freo’s 50m and sent a lace-out pass on to the waiting chest of Paul Hasleby.
From just inside the 50m, and with 48 seconds left on the clock, Hasleby’s kick sailed high and straight through the city-end goals the crowd erupted as Freo hit the front by five points.
Fremantle won a classic Derby by five points.
The Derby win was Freo’s sixth since the teams first played in 1995.
Freo has won a further 14 times against the Eagles and sit only two wins behind West Coast’s 22.
