![\"Dean](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/af0887844b7962f0703c3cb3f511802f.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nIt’s the heavyweight clash the AFL has been licking its lips for since about round five.<\/p>\n
Fremantle take on Sydney at Perth Stadium on Thursday night, in a match boasting storylines as compelling as early-era Melrose Place.<\/p>\n
First, there are the WA football giants who are now the two most important men at the Sydney Swans.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dean Cox was all smiles at Sydney’s captain’s run at Perth Stadium on Wednesday.\u00a0 (ABC News)<\/p>\n
Cox, the West Coast premiership ruckman, spent his playing career doing his level best to thwart Fremantle.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Pavlich is one of the Dockers’ favourite sons, booting 700 goals in 353 games in purple.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
![\"Matthew](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4d29b8b6aa73400286760701f68213dc.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Sydney Swans CEO Matthew Pavlich was a keen observer at training on Wednesday.\u00a0 (ABC News)<\/p>\n
But in a chat with the AFL website on the same day, Pavlich struck a more neutral tone \u2014 declaring that he did indeed feel some conflict.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Rucks run amok<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
![\"GettyImages-2223748966\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/c78f323fb03e171f570cfe9785302e77.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Luke Jackson and Brodie Grundy will have a big influence on the outcome of the game.\u00a0 ((Photo by Darrian Traynor\/Getty Images))<\/p>\n
If there is a ruckman in the competition who will best test Luke Jackson, at this moment Brodie Grundy is it.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
His non-selection raised eyebrows to say the least.<\/p>\n
Injury hit<\/p>\n
Hayden Young also misses out, unable to recover from a groin injury, while Tom Papley returns from a calf strain for Sydney.<\/p>\n
![\"Tom](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/b28e10b31d858b86a79ad3973f8feb1b.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Tom Papley is back for the Swans after a calf injury. (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer)<\/p>\n
It’s a clash between the AFL’s best attack, Sydney, and its best defence in Fremantle.<\/p>\n
But that Sydney attack has been blunted by injuries to tall timber Logan McDonald and Joel Amartey \u2014 the match a test of just how much lumber the Swans have in the yard.<\/p>\n
It will also be interesting to see how Fremantle responds to its first loss since March.<\/p>\n
Battle-worn Freo fans dare to dream flag within reach<\/a><\/p>\n Hard-bitten Dockers supporters won’t want to say it out loud, but hope is slowly turning to expectation that a first premiership could be on the cards.<\/p>\n In the GWS clash, for the first time this season, the Dockers were out-hunted.<\/p>\n Every other time they have been pressed this season, the Dockers have risen \u2014 think of their home clashes with Hawthorn or Geelong.<\/p>\n But the Giants ran harder for longer, and Fremantle could not go with them.<\/p>\n The intensity the Dockers have played with this season is hard to maintain.<\/p>\n A second successive loss might suggest that what the club will hope is a blip may in fact be a wobble.<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n Coaching battle<\/p>\n Sydney, ironically, have the most recent blueprint the Dockers would do well to heed warnings from.<\/p>\n Two years ago the Swans were flying, dropping only one game in their first 14.<\/p>\n But a one-point loss \u2014 to Fremantle \u2014 at the SCG began the rot, and they lost five of their next six.<\/p>\n The Swans were soundly beaten in the 2024 AFL grand final by Brisbane.\u00a0 (Getty Images: Daniel Pockett)<\/p>\n The Swans stopped the slide and went on to make the grand final, but their aura of invincibility was gone.<\/p>\n Despite finishing top, they were on the wrong end of a 10-goal mauling from Brisbane in the decider.<\/p>\n![\"Errol](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/185cc5e11f3b928edefdd066fc99d550.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n