AFLW 2026: Fremantle fight hard but fall to 10-point loss to Western Bulldogs

Fremantle have failed to master the wind or the Western Bulldogs as they fell to a 10-point defeat at Cockburn ARC Oval and slid off the pace in the race for the AFLW top eight at the halfway mark of the season.

In a tight, contested game, the Bulldogs were able to make more use of their scoring opportunities and thwart Fremantle’s advances to come from behind at three-quarter time and claim a 6.4 (40) to 4.6 (30) win.

A strong wind, blowing towards the train station end of the oval, proved to be a significant factor in proceedings as no score was recorded at the opposite end of the ground in the entire first-half and just one behind after the main break.

And while it favoured Fremantle in the opening quarter when they kicked out to a 14-point lead, it was their undoing after the first change when the Bulldogs kicked a decisive four unanswered majors.

Although the loss was not catastrophic in result nor nature for the Dockers, it did allow their opponents to move into seventh spot on the ladder and move four points ahead of them.

Skipper Ange Stannett, playing her 75th game, might have seen the banner celebrating her milestone ruined by the wind, but the elements favoured in and under players like herself and Kiara Bowers — the latter of who was Fremantle’s best with 23 disposals, eight clearances, eight tackles and five inside 50s.

The pair willed the ball forward with the wind behind the Dockers early and veteran Bowers excelled as she tallied four first-term clearances.

Fremantle got the ball forward frequently early and then were able to lock it inside the forward 50, the hosts garnering 12 inside 50s to four in the opening quarter and laying 11 tackles inside the arc — 10 more than their opponents.

After Georgie Brisbane got a friendly roll for the opening goal, Noa McNaughton swung through a set-shot to give the home side a 14-point lead heading into the second term.

But Fremantle then got a taste of their own medicine and it tasted bitter as the Bulldogs made good use of the gust heading into half-time.

The visitors recorded 14 inside 50s in the second term as Emma McDonald and Cleo Buttifant ate up Fremantle’s advantage with goals, before Isabelle Pritchard kicked another to give her side the lead and almost immediately after set up Ellie Bennetts.

In her first game back from injury, Mim Strom had been bested by Alice Edmonds in the ruck throughout the first half, but she asserted herself after the break.

The dual All-Australian may have ceded the ruck battle, but she had seven disposals, more than 100m gained, two inside 50s, two clearances and teed up Hayley Miller for a goal which cut the deficit to two points.

It was also a major which moved Miller into a tie with Gemma Houghton for most goals in the club’s AFLW history.

Once again, the wind proved a factor as Fremantle wrestled back territory, but it took them until the dying moments of the term to re-take the lead, when Bowers pounced on the goal-line to give her side a three-point lead.

The advantage was gone instantly when the Bulldogs won the opening clearance and Heidi Woodley stormed inside 50 and nursed the ball through the middle.

Fremantle fought tooth and nail but struggled to get the ball into promising positions forward of centre and when Sarah Hartwig kicked truly from a set-shot, the Bulldogs had a double-digit lead.

SCOREBOARD

WESTERN BULLDOGS 0.0 4.2 4.3 6.4 (40)

FREMANTLE 2.3 2.3 4.6 4.6 (30)

GOALS: WESTERN BULLDOGS: E McDonald C Buttifant I Pritchard E Bennetts H Woodley S Hartwig. FREMANTLE: G Brisbane N McNaughton H Miller K Bowers.

BEST: WESTERN BULLDOGS I Pritchard S Fitzgerald B Gutknecht A Edmonds C Buttifant E Blackburn. FREMANTLE: K Bowers G Newton A McCarthy A Brazill J Low B Smith.

UMPIRES: S Ritchie J Kerr J Orr J Kondhalkar. CROWD: TBC.