This was not the result Fremantle wanted, their form had fallen off late in the season and they were losing games they should have been winning. Sure, they had injuries but every team has injuries deep into the season, this is a tight competition and even a slight dip in form is the difference between winning and losing.

Lining up in the midfield was Geelong’s Patrick Dangerfield and Fremantle’s Nat Fyfe, both veterans, both outstanding players and both nearing the end of their respective careers. In a head-to-head battle down in Adelaide back in 2015, Fyfe went head to head with Dangerfield. That time, the Fremantle Dockers were victorious against a very good Adelaide Crows outfit by 11 points. Nat Fyfe came away with three Brownlow votes and Patrick Dangerfield was awarded two votes. We all witnessed a football spectacle where the best two players lined up on each other and played an attacking brand of football.

This time around, Patrick Dangerfield was playing for Geelong and Fyfe was still at Fremantle. Dangerfield transferred from Adelaide at the end of the 2015 season and is now the captain of Geelong since 2023. Fyfe has had a brilliant career with two Brownlow medals and Dangerfield winning the Brownlow medal in 2016. Patrick Dangerfield was a member of the Geelong premiership team of 2022 and has 8 All-Australian team selections. This was not a head-to-head clash like in 2015 where Fyfe v Dangerfield were left to play attacking football, it was a good game nonetheless.

Fyfe finished with 17 disposals with 6 kicks and 11 handballs, with no marks and no handballs. Dangerfield was better with 20 disposals consisting of 16 kicks, 4 handballs, 3 marks and 3 tackles. Dangerfield scored a goal and two behinds, so whilst they did not go head-to-head like in 2015, they did spend some limited time on each other. Patrick Dangerfield at 34 years old had a big impact on the game and was ultimately the difference between the teams. Even with Dangerfield missing a goal from a goal square brain fade where Patrick tried to kick the ball from the ground instead of gathering it up, he had an outstanding game and apart from a laugh, this was a brilliant game.