Fremantle have kicked four goals in the final five minutes to beat Hawthorn by 14 points in an instant classic at Optus Stadium on Thursday night.
The Dockers were trailing for much of the night, but finished with full of run to dominate the final term and seal the incredible victory.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Luke Jackson’s smother sets up crucial goal
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It looked like the Hawks might have held on for a famous win when Jack Gunston kicked his sixth to give his side a 19-point lead.
But Fremantle kept on pushing. After a miss from a set shot, Josh Treacy quickly made amends with a brilliant snap to narrow the margin to 11 points with just under eight minutes remaining.
The Hawks kept Freo at bay for another three minutes before Michael Frederick kicked a brilliant snap with just over four minutes left.
That set up “wharfie time” with the crowd erupting. And the players responded with a Jackson clearance leading to a Jye Amiss snap to put the Dockers in front.
Suddenly Hawthorn were chasing the game, but the Dockers wouldn’t be denied. Star ruck Luke Jackson produced a stunning smother that lead to another goal from Frederick to seal it.
There was still time for another Hayden Young goal to round out the incredible finish.
“What a performance,” Kane Cornes said in commentary.
Jackson was best afield with an outrageous performance, on top of the brilliant smother that was hailed by teammates after the match.
Andy Brayshaw quickly anointed Jackson as best on ground after the match, giving up the TV prize to his teammate.
“The match-saving moment was Luke’s smother, so he gets it,” Brayshaw said on Channel 7.
Jackson finished the match with 22 disposals (18 contested possessions), 22 hitouts, a game-high 10 tackles and seven clearances.
“He’s an absolute weapon. The strengths he brings to us, the type of bloke he is, he is pretty special and we’re lucky to have him in our team,” Treacy said of his teammate.
At one point, the Dockers had 20 inside 50s to two in that final term.
“They have just dominated, won the inside battle, won the outside battle,” Hawthorn champion Luke Hodge said on Channel 7.
Fremantle star Caleb Serong, who was one of the best with 28 touches, said the last quarter was “special”.
“We knew they’re a measuring stick for where we are at,” Serong told Channel 7 after the match.
“We’re playing some good footy, but we think we’re going at about 80 per cent and we probably just won on moments the past few weeks.
“We wanted to put a four-quarter performance together … it probably wasn’t that tonight, but the way we ground that out and that last quarter was special.”
Fremantle’s eighth victory on the trot is their biggest winning streak since they won an equal club-record nine in a row back in 2015.
The Dockers (8-1) will have the chance to match that mark when they face struggling Essendon at the MCG next week.
Hawthorn slipped to a 6-2-1 record, and are set to be without Tom Barrass for the near future after the star backman injured his left hamstring in the second term.
Gunston was unstoppable in the first half on the way to 6.2, but slowed down under the close attention of Brennan Cox, while Nick Watson was also on fire early with three first-half goals.
Serong was prominent for Fremantle with 28 disposals and eight clearances, while Frederick and Amiss kicked three goals apiece.
Hawthorn big men Lloyd Meek (21 hitouts) and Ned Reeves (18 hitouts) kept Jackson honest until the star Docker exploded in the final quarter.
Gunston took a whopping four marks inside 50m in the opening term for a return of 2.2 opposed to Luke Ryan.
It would have been 3.1, but the ARC correctly picked up that one of Gunston’s ‘goals’ had actually grazed the post.
Fremantle won the clearance battle 10-5 to take a two-point lead into quarter-time, but Watson and Gunston tore the Dockers to shreds in the second term.
Gunston, this time opposed to Brennan Cox, kicked three goals for the quarter while Watson added two as Hawthorn entered the halftime break with a 15-point lead.
It marked the first time in Gunston’s 291-game career he had kicked five goals in the first half, and his seven marks inside 50m across the first two quarters represented a major worry for the Dockers.
Watson was also a big handful, with Dockers defenders tripping over themselves at times in their attempt to keep up with the change in direction of “The Wizard’‘.
Hawthorn had the game on their terms for most of the third quarter, but their inability to cash in cost them dearly as Fremantle launched an inspirational comeback.
– With AAP
