FREMANTLE lifted late to hold off a determined St Kilda at Optus Stadium, avenging the horror round eight loss to win by 12 points and extending the Dockers' winning run to six games in a Sunday thriller that went down to the wire. 

Eight weeks after one of the club's worst defeats, Fremantle was challenged in the midfield again and trailed early in the final term before kicking five of the last six goals to win 11.15 (81) to 9.15 (69) in the club's annual Starlight Purple Haze game.

DOCKERS v SAINTS Full match coverage and stats

The game came down to the final centre clearance, with Sean Darcy and Caleb Serong combining to send the ball forward and Luke Jackson taking a towering contested mark to ice the game, before converting his set shot after the siren. 

The win moves the Dockers to 10-5 and further entrenches them in the top eight, with half-back Jordan Clark producing an enormous performance to drive an important win for the club. 

Clark finished with 31 disposals, 10 marks and a goal, while key forward Josh Treacy was influential with a team-high three goals, a massive chasedown tackle and a goal-saving spoil on the line deep in the fourth quarter. 

Darcy finished with 41 hitouts and seven clearances, producing a dominant fourth quarter and taking the bulk of the ruck work as Jackson played both as a groundlevel midfielder and deep forward target for two goals. 

The Dockers made the call not to activate substitute Nat Fyfe deep in the game, with coach Justin Longmuir later revealing the dual Brownlow medallist had experienced calf awareness after warming up at half-time.

It was a win for Fremantle's dual ruck set-up and a sign of the young team's maturity, finding a way to win in the final term when the tide of the game was against them for three quarters.

Andrew Brayshaw (25 and six inside 50s) was the best of a midfield unit that was well held again by the Saints, who won the clearances 46-31 and the centre clearances 13-7, with Jack Macrae, Hugo Garcia and Jack Steele all performing well. 

Garcia paid particular attention to Serong throughout the game, but was able to win a game-high 10 clearances among his 24 disposals.   

The Saints were relentless all day and would have also been thrilled with the performance of young defender Alix Tauru. But they lacked polish late in the game when the result was up for grabs. 

After so much attention on who Marcus Windhager would tag, the St Kilda stopper instead started forward and left Macrae, Garcia and Steele to handle the big midfield match-ups. 

Windhager pushed up into the midfield from there as the Saints got a lot of numbers around the ball and made sure the stoppages played out on their terms, winning the clearances 14-6 in the first quarter. 

Treacy ensured the Dockers had a three-point lead at quarter-time, however, kicking both of Freos' goals for the term as St Kilda wasted its opportunities at the other end. 

In-form half-back Clark extended the lead early in the second quarter when he was sent into range by a 50m penalty against Dan Butler, but the Saints countered to kick three of the next four as their midfield dominance continued. 

Playing in front of the Fremantle crowd for the first time since he left at the end of 2023, Liam Henry snapped an excellent shot and shooshed the Purple Army as the Saints took a narrow lead. 

The Dockers bobbed ahead at the main break, however, after Nathan O'Driscoll marked Pat Voss's clever pass and converted, with that narrow lead somewhat masking the midfield issues.

Clearances at the main break were 25-11 in the Saints' favour, and centre clearances were 8-3, with the visitors getting more reward for their ascendency in a three-goal-to-one third term. 
 
Consecutive goals to Butler, Max Hall, Isaac Keeler, and then Jack Higgins at the start of the fourth quarter, gave the Saints a 14-point lead early in the final term. 

They fell away thereafter, however, as the Dockers talls in Darcy, Jackson and Treacy had a great influence, with Serong also lifting around the ball at critical moments to win four of his nine clearances in the final term.  

Marshall magic 
St Kilda ruck Rowan Marshall had his work cut out for him against the double team of Sean Darcy and Luke Jackson, but he found a way to have a big impact in the first half. Beaten 29-11 in hitouts, Marshall found other ways to have an influence, competing at ground level to have a team-high five clearances in the first half and getting creative to kick a brilliant second-quarter goal. Wrestling with Darcy at a forward 50 stoppage, Marshall held his man off as the throw-in came down and kicked the ball out of mid-air. He flushed the kick as well as he could have hoped, going on to finish with 21 disposals and 10 clearances. 

Fyfe suffers setback as sub 
The predictable move was to inject Nat Fyfe into the game at three-quarter time after excellent performances as the substitute against GWS and Gold Coast, so it was strange that the champion midfielder did not warm up during the last break. He remained on the bench in a jacket to start the final term and ultimately saw no game time. It later emerged Fyfe had warmed up at half-time and then felt calf "awareness", with the message relayed to the Dockers' coaches early in the third quarter. It's a minor setback, but one that Fyfe could do without as he fights to establish a role in the team after an interrupted season. 

Clark sizing up AA jacket 
The momentum building in Jordan Clark's season makes him a leading option for selection in the 2025 All-Australian team, with his assertive style at half back a massive reason the Dockers held on against the Saints. Clark finished with 31 disposals, 10 marks and five rebound 50s, using the ball brilliantly and playing with poise when the game around him was chaotic. Tough in the contest, consistent, and an emerging leader at Freo, he must be considered for one of the half-back flanks in the team of the year.  

FREMANTLE     2.2   5.5   6.10   11.15 (81)
ST KILDA         1.5   4.8   7.12   9.15 (69)

GOALS
Fremantle: Treacy 3, Jackson 2, Bolton, Clark, Darcy, Dudley, O'Driscoll, Reid 
St Kilda: Keeler 2, Butler, Hall, Henry, Higgins, Marshall, Wanganeen-Milera, Owens

BEST
Fremantle: Clark, Treacy, Darcy, Jackson, Brayshaw, Ryan 
St Kilda: Garcia, Marshall, Macrae, Tauru, Wanganeen-Milera, Hall 

INJURIES
Fremantle: Nil 
St Kilda: Nil 

SUBSTITUTES 
Fremantle: Nat Fyfe (not used) 
St Kilda: Jack Carroll (replaced Dan Butler in the fourth quarter)  

Crowd: 41,600 at Optus Stadium