Fremantle have extended their winning streak to a remarkable 14 games with a 51-point demolition of a woeful Gold Coast at Optus Stadium on Sunday evening.
The Dockers kept the Suns to just three goals in a defensive masterclass that will ramp up pressure on coach Damien Hardwick.
The Suns were goalless at quarter-time and were sitting on just two until late in the final quarter when they finally got their third to avoid registering the second-lowest score in their history.
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Their final score of 3.11 (29) is the fourth-lowest in their history.
Gold Coast, who were among the premiership favourites early in the season, have now lost five in a row and their finals hopes are hanging by a thread.
West Coast premiership defender Will Schofield slammed the Suns for their “unwatchable” performance.
“It’s not good enough,” he said on Fox Footy at three-quarter time.
“What do they stand for, this Suns side? Two goals at three-quarter time; it’s borderline unwatchable, what they’re putting out.
“Contested game is fine, clearance game is fine, but now they can’t transition the footy. They need to be better than they have been.
“The pressure side they’ve been outplayed. I’ve just been totally disappointed by a side that’s come off three-straight losses and need to respond.”
Speaking after the match, Brownlow medallist Gerard Healy added: “They are miles off where they’d expect to be right now.”
Murphy Reid (28 disposals) produced a midfield masterclass and Michael Frederick kicked an equal career-high four goals as Fremantle notched their 14th win on the trot with a 11.14 (80) to 3.11 (29) triumph in front of 50,602 fans in Perth.
The win catapulted Fremantle (14-1) two wins clear of second-placed Sydney and three and a half wins clear of third-placed Hawthorn, with a top-two finish well and truly theirs for the taking.
Gold Coast (7-8) started the year as one of the premiership favourites, but are now on a five-match losing run and face a big battle to turn their season around.
The Suns only had two majors to their name against Fremantle until Jed Walter ran into an open goal in the dying minutes of the match.
Some of Gold Coast’s errors were so bad it left coach Damien Hardwick with his hands on his head in frustration in the box.
Although Gold Coast won the clearance battle 36-24, they failed to capitalise because of some horrendous decision-making and poor skill execution.
Damningly, Gold Coast lost the tackle count 66-44 despite having 64 fewer disposals for the match.
Noah Anderson (32 disposals, eight clearances) battled hard, but fellow midfield star Christian Petracca (17 disposals, five clearances) was quiet while spending large periods in attack.
Forward Bailey Humphrey (no score from six disposals) endured another lean outing, while out-of-contract spearhead Ben King was restricted to 1.2 from seven disposals.
Fremantle had winners all over the field.
And Dockers ruckman Sean Darcy made a welcome return, tallying six disposals, 20 hit-outs and one goal in his first AFL match since round five.
The Suns beat Fremantle by one point in last year’s elimination final in Perth, and the Dockers came out like a team possessed early in Sunday’s rematch.
The Dockers’ intense pressure proved too much for the Suns, with Frederick cashing in with three quick goals, and Luke Jackson adding another from a contested mark to give Fremantle a 28-2 edge by quarter-time.
The damage would have been even greater if not for two misses from Dockers spearhead Jye Amiss and a poster from Patrick Voss.
Fremantle dominated the inside-50 battle 15-7 in the second quarter, but their reward was a meagre three behinds in what was their lowest-scoring term of the season.
King kicked the only goal of the term to bring the margin back to 20 points.
But Jackson broke the game open early in the third quarter, nailing his 50m set shot before delivering an assist to Voss for another.
And when Frederick bobbed up for his fourth goal, the margin was 40 points and it was game over.
– With AAP
