1. Memories of Harmesy
It wasn't quite the 1979 Grand Final but the non-call when Chris Mayne pulled the ball back from the second row to hand Matthew Pavlich a goal was arguably further out of bounds. Pavlich’s third major got the Dockers back to within four points during the last quarter and looked like it could be crucial. But the Eagles kicked away and sealed the deal. In the boundary ump’s defence he was at full gallop and caught on the wrong side of Mayne’s body. He couldn't just guess whether it was in or not. Eagles coach Adam Simpson certainly wasn't worried about it. "That’s footy," Simpson said. "I was more concerned about the 15 missed shots we had at stages. It felt like we just kept the contest going by missing some of those easy goals, "I'm not worried about the boundary line thing."

Quizzed on whether video replays could be used to prevent such crucial clangers, Simpson said: "No, I think it’s such a rare thing and to hold the game up – I don’t think we do that. They are human they make mistakes."

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2. Dour Dockers
Western Derby 43 was always going to be about what Fremantle did with its new ‘attacking’ game plan after two poor losses. It was soon obvious this was going to be no shoot-out. It took 12 minutes for the first goal of the game, and it was worse in the second term when there wasn’t a goal until time-on as Freo clamped down and the Eagles struggled to break through. The Dockers were still on four goals midway through the last term before a late flurry pushed them to 8.11 (59). This came after they booted 5.8 (38) in their round-one loss to the Western Bulldogs. They sat second last on the ladder by the end of Saturday night.

3. Rolling the dice
As the ambulance rolled out of Domain Stadium it may have signalled a mortal blow to Fremantle’s season. The Dockers decision to go in without a recognised back-up ruckman backfired spectacularly when Sandilands was cleaned up by a Nic Naitanui knee four minutes into the second term. That Alex Pearce had to pinch-hit against Naitanui with a little help from some other key position players (and Matt de Boer) hurt even more. If Sandilands has a punctured lung as feared, the Dockers might find themselves without a key weapon for between two and eight weeks as they try to salvage something from a season that has started so horribly.

4. Swooping like Eagles
The turnovers and blunders by Freo early in the second half were enough to make Ross Lyon go bananas. With West Coast squeezing out a one-goal lead at half-time, the Dockers really had to come out firing in the third term, especially without Sandilands. But an errant handball from Tendai Mzungu led to the opening goal of the second half to Jamie Cripps, then a duffed kicked across half-back from Cam Sutcliffe saw Lewis Jetta boot his first for the Eagles and 100th for his career. Free kicks close to goal against Zac Dawson (Josh Kennedy) and Alex Pearce (Nic Naitanui) weren’t punished but should have been. That 10-minute patch as the rain came down effectively ruined Freo’s charge.

5. 200 of the best
Brownlow medallist Matt Priddis, another of the great rookie-list stories, would have loved that his 200th game was in a derby at the ground where he plied his trade for Subiaco in the WAFL, after being overlooked in national drafts.  And when the heavens opened to ensure a tough, inside game he just rubbed his hands together and got down to work. By the end of the match he had 31 possessions and the Ross Glendinning Medal as best afield. The story couldn’t have been more different for Lyon, celebrating his 100th match as Freo coach, who didn’t look like he was enjoying much at all about the evening.