AFL heavyweights Fremantle, Sydney primed for showdown

It's the heavyweight clash the AFL has been licking its lips for since about round five.

Fremantle take on Sydney at Perth Stadium on Thursday night, in a match boasting storylines as compelling as early-era Melrose Place.

First, there are the WA football giants who are now the two most important men at the Sydney Swans.

Senior coach Dean Cox and CEO Matthew Pavlich were monumental figures in Perth for more than a decade, albeit on different sides of the city's clearly marked club divide.

Cox, the West Coast premiership ruckman, spent his playing career doing his level best to thwart Fremantle.

But for Pavlich, surely, to be standing at the helm of the club most likely to deny his beloved Fremantle's maiden premiership ambitions must feel a little awkward.

Pavlich is one of the Dockers' favourite sons, booting 700 goals in 353 games in purple.

During his press conference on Wednesday, Cox was adamant Pavlich is "all-in for the Swans at the moment", although he conceded it would be an "interesting week" for his boss.

But in a chat with the AFL website on the same day, Pavlich struck a more neutral tone — declaring that he did indeed feel some conflict.

Certainly, for all his magnanimity, the mere thought of Pavlich not supporting Fremantle should the Dockers and Swans meet on grand final day would officially mark the death of romance.

Rucks run amok

The match pits two of the competition's best ruckmen against each other, when Luke Jackson is confronted by Brodie Grundy in career-best form.

The 2026 model Jackson has been electrifying, with some speculation he could become the first ruckman to win the Brownlow Medal since Scott Wynd in 1992.

But that chatter is born more from the highlights Jackson provides on the ground and around the goals, rather than the 500+ hit-outs he has garnered.

Grundy meanwhile is in sublime nick himself, and the last time he visited Perth he helped himself to 33 hit-outs and 28 disposals to be close to best on ground.

If there is a ruckman in the competition who will best test Luke Jackson, at this moment Brodie Grundy is it.

Then there was the selection surprise sprung by Fremantle, opting to rest Sean Darcy for the clash amid concerns over the five-day break since their loss to GWS.

Darcy only recently returned to the side after concussion, and a calf issue kept him out for nine weeks, the last three of those spent regaining touch in the WAFL.

His non-selection raised eyebrows to say the least.

Injury hit

Hayden Young also misses out, unable to recover from a groin injury, while Tom Papley returns from a calf strain for Sydney.

It's a clash between the AFL's best attack, Sydney, and its best defence in Fremantle.

But that Sydney attack has been blunted by injuries to tall timber Logan McDonald and Joel Amartey — the match a test of just how much lumber the Swans have in the yard.

It will also be interesting to see how Fremantle responds to its first loss since March.

In the GWS clash, for the first time this season, the Dockers were out-hunted.

Every other time they have been pressed this season, the Dockers have risen — think of their home clashes with Hawthorn or Geelong.

But the Giants ran harder for longer, and Fremantle could not go with them.

The intensity the Dockers have played with this season is hard to maintain.

A second successive loss might suggest that what the club will hope is a blip may in fact be a wobble.

The Swans, meanwhile, have no fears about heading west. They've won nine out of 12 matches at Perth Stadium, and haven't been beaten there since a two-point loss to the Dockers in 2021.

Coaching battle

Sydney, ironically, have the most recent blueprint the Dockers would do well to heed warnings from.

Two years ago the Swans were flying, dropping only one game in their first 14.

But a one-point loss — to Fremantle — at the SCG began the rot, and they lost five of their next six.

The Swans stopped the slide and went on to make the grand final, but their aura of invincibility was gone.

Despite finishing top, they were on the wrong end of a 10-goal mauling from Brisbane in the decider.

Neither Cox nor his Fremantle counterpart and former colleague Justin Longmuir tasted premiership success during their assistant coaching apprenticeships.

Both were with Adam Simpson when the Eagles were vivisected by Hawthorn in 2015.

Longmuir was Nathan Buckley's right-hand man when Dom Sheed broke Magpie hearts in 2018, and Cox was John Longmire's lieutenant for their grand final destructions of 2022 and 2024.

Both coaches are determined to lead their sides to the promised land, and both sides will be keen to test themselves against their nearest rival.

The match may provide answers as to whose game will hold up best under the intense glare of deepest September.

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