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.

Fremantle coach Lisa Webb says they did not play proactively in the loss as their pre-game plan fell by the wayside, with the Dockers’ ball movement under the microscope.

“They brought strong pressure, adapted to the conditions better than we did. We’re definitely disappointed. A lot of the metrics were pretty even, but we just let ourselves down,” she said.

“Their method, they executed better at key moments. We just didn’t look as balanced as normal as well.

“We had 12 unforced errors, which is unusual for us — kicking out of bounds or two-v-one and getting beaten, they’re the things we can control and when the ball was in our hands, we didn’t deliver like we should have.

“We certainly had a plan. We were pretty strong on what we wanted to do, and we just didn’t execute at key times.

“Sometimes we go into our shell at times and we’re reactive. When we’re playing proactive, we really trust ourselves and we go at the game.

“We’re certainly a better team, and at times we were off, and there was quite a few players that were just off, I felt.”

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.