The build-up
2026 was the Docker’s best year.
In their 32-year history, the Fremantle Dockers AFL Football Club have made it to two Grand Finals. This year, 2026 was their second. What a season they had – blitzing all-comers and finishing on top of the table. All players, fans, commentators, even critics expected they would win their way to the Big Dance – the greatest show on turf – the last Saturday in September – the ultimate prize – the Grand Final. Indeed, they did.
The first time the Dockers made the Grand Final was 2013. Docker’s tragic Gordon, my great mate, attended that game. He asked me to come with him, but for various reasons I declined – a decision I have regretted for the past 13 years. On that occasion we were run over by an experienced opposition. The Dockers have never been Premiers.
This year promised more.
As mentioned, the expectation was building from May. The Dockers were playing some pretty inspired footy. In June Gordon and I decided to bite the bullet and book flights to Melbourne for the Grand Final weekend. The flight options were scarce and expensive. We secured flights from Thursday night via Brisbane – home on Sunday morning via Adelaide. We paid extra to allow for cancellation – just in case. Gordon’s nephew was escaping the madness of Melbourne Grand Final weekend and generously offered his house in Essendon for our lodgings. We waited with bated breath for our team to qualify. Fremantle finished on top of the table.
A unique “feature” of Australian sporting final programmes is that the teams that finish on the top of the table earn themselves a second chance. That means they can lose their first (Qualifying) final and still stay in the race. This is what happened in Fremantle’s Qualifying Final – they were hopelessly outclassed by fourth placed Hawthorn.
Another unique feature of AFL finals is that when there are six teams left, they play two “Semi Finals”. Fremantle met Geelong, a formidable opponent with vast finals experience. A gutsy 14 point win did wonders to ease the anxiety of the Purple Army. We were back in the hunt!
Four teams were left. Hawthorn hosted Brisbane at the MCG and Freo travelled to Sydney to play the Sydney Swans. What should be called Semi Finals, the AFL calls Preliminary Finals. The two “Prelims” will, perhaps go down as the greatest games in AFL history. Brisbane survived a massive comeback by Hawthorn to win by 9 points. Fremantle, down by 21 points at three quarter time, held Sydney goalless in the last term to run over the top and win by 12 points.
We made it! We’re Grand Finalists! Gordon and I are going to Melbourne!
Our opponents are the Brisbane Lions. This is their fourth Grand Final appearance in a row. They will be going for a “three-peat” Premiership title. It will take a mighty effort to beat them.
Off to Melbourne
I met Gordon at Perth Airport T2 about 10pm on Thursday night. This wasn’t going to be an easy flight. We arrived in Brisbane at (time adjusted) 5.30am. It was difficult to get much sleep. When we booked the flights, we didn’t know our Grand Final opponents would be Brisbane. And here we were, travelling to Melbourne in enemy territory amongst Lions fans! Thankfully there were a few other Dockers supporters on the flight.
The 90-minute flight had us arriving in Melbourne ay 9.30am – too late for the Grand Final Parade. We caught an Uber to Gordon’s nephew’s place in Essendon where we were met by Gordon’s Brother, Stuart. The house was beautiful. We were truly blessed to experience such generous hospitality. Stuart drove us to Queen Victoria Markets, where we caught a tram to Flinders Street. We walked to the MCG to catch the Captain’s Run – an open training session. The magnitude of the crowd floored us. Walking through the city and at the ground the level of support for the Dockers was immense. It seemed like Melbourne had turned Purple!
By sheer fluke, and despite the large crowd, we managed to bump into my cousins, Martin, Colin and Justin. Martin lives in Melbourne – his brother Colin had travelled from Perth earlier in the week. Justin is Martin’s son and a West Coast Eagles supporter – I loved seeing his support for Freo. We walked back to Fed Square for a few beers, where Martin’s wife Kirsty joined us. We promised ourselves an early night, so we caught the tram back to Essendon where Stuart was going to pick us up for dinner.
Dinner was at a local pub, where we both hungrily tucked into a sensational rib-eye steak. Gordon sent his compliments to the chef, whereby he came out of the kitchen and shouted, “up the Dockers!“. It was nice to catch up with Stuart and his wife Sandy. We had met them on a previous footy trip to Melbourne in 2019. Exhausted after a big day, we were relieved to finally turn in for the night.
Grand Final Day
Stuart again met us at the house and drove us to Moonee Ponds Station, where we caught the train into Flinders Street Station. We were meeting the cousins for brunch at Bear Brass on South Bank. My youngest son Mitchell joined us also after flying in from Perth that morning.
After brunch we made our way to Fed Square to join the thousands of Freo fans waiting to march to the ground. What a thrill this was. What fantastic support. In the drizzle we walked at a slow pace to the ground. The rain wasn’t heavy enough to get drenched, but I bought a poncho just in case it strengthened. It turns out it was a dud purchase, because our seats were undercover. And what seats they were! We had a fantastic view from level 2 on the 50m arc at the City End.
Mike Brady got the crowd going with his footy classic “Up there Cazaly“. The motorcade of legends traversed the boundary – featuring our boy Nat Fyfe.
Kylie Minogue was the headline act for the event. She came out with a large array of dancers. She sang five of her hits on the centre stage with numerous costume changes. She finished flying around the stadium hanging off the spider cam. It was a great spectacle. As with all these acts if would have benefitted from a concert quality sound system.
Clean all that stuff up – there’s a game to play!
The Game
The 2026 AFL Grand Final was a cracker of a game. As you would expect, both teams threw everything into the contest. The sounds of “Country Roads Take me Home…” rang out early as Charlie Cameron kicked the opening goal. Josh Treacy quickly replied and we got the sense this was going to be a tight contest all the way through,
That’s exactly how the game played out. One team would get a couple of goals ahead, but the other team would even up the score.
The scores were level at half time.
As they have done all year, Fremantle dominated the third quarter. They were two goals ahead when the disaster struck. Captain Alex Pearce collapsed flat on the ground while chasing his opponent to the boundary. He’d ruptured his Achilles tendon. He was to play no further part in the game. Brisbane quickly capitalised, scoring two quick goals to return to level pegging. Was this the break that Brisbane needed to seize control of the game? No sir! Fremantle rallied again and at three quarter time they had a 10 point lead.
The last quarter – 20 minutes left in the game to claim glory. Again, it was a see-saw affair. Fremantle kept the scoring pressure up. When Pat Voss kicked a goal on the 22 minute mark Gordon and I looked at each other. Dare we? I checked AFL web site and it reported 4 minutes of real time to go. We were 17 points in the lead. Dare we?
Wharfie Time rang out on the loudspeaker. The Dockers fans went nuts; Gordon and I included. The dream was coming true.
This was like a red rag to the Brisbane team. They put the foot down and slammed on three goals to snatch a 1 point lead. They kicked another before the siren to claim the 2026 Premiership. Dockers fans sat in stunned silence – sure, there was plenty of noise in the ground – but it was silent. What happened?!
As the dust settles
The feeling is difficult to put into words.
You might be thinking “come on, it’s just a game – why so serious? – get over it“. You’re right – but I’m guessing you haven’t been a Dockers fan for 32 years.
This was our year. We have been building a team – a culture – a belief – for the past 10 years. We’ve done the hard yards. We finished on top of the table. We’ve beaten all the tops teams. We were the best team of 2026. We made it through the Grand Final. We were the best team in the Grand Final for all but the final four minutes. At the 22 minute mark of the last quarter, we finally allowed ourselves to believe it was ours. With the blink of an eye, it was snatched away from us by surely the cruellest of the football gods.
Flat – deflated – empty are the only words I can come up with. I’m not going to say disappointed. How can anyone be disappointed with this team. They have given everything. They had given us the best season of football I’ve ever witnessed. I have been seen many versions of the Fremantle Football Club over the years. Ive been privileged to see some of the greatest players of all time. Pavlich, Fyfe, Mundy, Sandilands, Walters. This current team doesn’t have those superstars – but have matched their achievements. We have ended the season with unfinished business. Our story is not yet done.
I cannot wait for 2027!
