So, in the grand scheme of the 2014 season, the Dockers ability to fight back twice and beat West Coast by seven points on Saturday night may end up being crucial.

History shows that finishing in the top four is essential to a side’s chances of winning an AFL premiership.

And while there is still plenty of football remaining in the season before positions on the ladder are confirmed, the Dockers potentially went within two kicks of blowing their chances of such a high finish on Saturday night.

Going into the game, it appeared unlikely that West Coast would be the side that cost Fremantle a spot in the top-four.

The Dockers had won five consecutive games going into the clash, to get into the four, and the Eagles had been less than impressive for a while, despite two wins in a row, against the Gold Coast and St Kilda.

Fremantle’s coming games against Geelong (round 20), Hawthorn (round 21) and Port Adelaide (round 23) were supposed to be their season determining fixtures.

However, on Saturday night they received a reminder that no opposition can be taken lightly.

The Eagles had led by 13 points in the first term because they showed greater desire to win the contests and would have been more than five points up at half-time if they had converted better than 1.7 they managed in the second quarter.

The Dockers had to fight back – twice – and even that was almost not enough.

The Eagles hit the front 15 minutes into the final term, even though they trailed by 24 points at three-quarter-time.

And while Fremantle kicked back with three consecutive goals to lead by 20 points with only a few minutes to go, West Coast went again and kicked another two goals, missing a third.

So, on the ground after the game, as Stephen Hill was being presented his Ross Glendinning Medal for best afield in the win over the Eagles, Fremantle coach Ross Lyon let some of his players know how disappointed he was that they almost let the game slip.

“The adrenalin was still flowing so there was a couple of things while it was fresh in the mind,” he said.

“Just game situation stuff so I thought while it was still fresh in the mind.

“Three or four things I thought hurt us that shouldn’t have occurred, so the guys will remember that. It’s certainly not personal. We’re all pretty tight and we just put it in there for next time it’s a good learning opportunity.”

“We’re 24 (20) points up with four minutes to go so maybe they did mentally relax. It just highlights that good opposition keep coming and the Eagles are good opposition and they keep coming.

“They are a proud club and it was a critical game for them in the context of their season so we knew what was coming. Certainly their strength is their forwards and we had some challenges down back.

“I thought when the game was up for grabs at half-time we responded powerfully, we got hit in the last but we kicked three goals in the last three minutes.”

The game was crucial for the Eagles dying finals chances and the loss all but ends them.

Although they are only two wins outside of eighth spot, four of their remaining eighth games are against teams above them, plus they have away games to Brisbane, Adelaide, Essendon and the Gold Coast.

Their defence also copped a hit on Saturday night, with Mitch Brown appearing to go down with a knee injury – just two weeks after captain Darren Glass retired.

The Dockers backline has been tested in recent weeks also, with Luke McPharlin and Michael Johnson sidelined.

Lyon has been forced to trial a few different players in their absence and gave younger Matthew Taberner a chance there against West Coast in just his seventh AFL appearance.

Taberner has been playing in attack for Peel in the WAFL, but was used in favour of veteran Kepler Bradley in the key defending role.

“When in doubt, the enthusiasm of youth goes a long way,” who turned 21 earlier in the month. “He is 196cm – a big man. We picked him as a forward and we had it planned another way and I thought about it and when he came in today I said, “here’s your birthday present mate – go down and play on (Nic) Natanui and (Dean) Cox”.

“He accepted and we were really pleased with him. He was good.
“Well he has always been a forward and now we know he can go down and play back on big men.

“We had some good performers down there – (Cam) Sutcliffe on (Jack) Darling was really strong, (Lee) Spurr on (Mark) LeCras and (Paul) Duffield.”

The Dockers will start short favourites to win their seventh consecutive game on Saturday when they travel to Darwin to play Melbourne and follow that with games against GWS, St Kilda and Carlton before they meet the Cats.

All going well, they could go into that game having won 10 games on end.

And with McPharlin due back next week, their defence will also get the bolstering it needs.

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