Josh Treacy has kicked four goals and Shai Bolton produced the razzle-dazzle as Fremantle crushed Melbourne by 48 points in front of 44,736 fans at Optus Stadium.
The Dockers kicked seven goals to one in the first quarter of Saturday night's match to set up the 17.16 (118) to 10.10 (70) win.
Treacy was the dominant key forward with 4.1 to go with 10 marks and 17 disposals, while Bolton was the everywhere man with 32 possessions, nine clearances and two goals.
If you don't mind, Shai Bolton 😮💨#AFLFreoDees pic.twitter.com/XqmJhCUtRI
— AFL (@AFL) March 21, 2026
Bolton's biggest highlight was a two-bounce effort from the wing that resulted in him nailing a 55m goal on the run.
Goalsneak Isaiah Dudley kicked three goals, Murphy Reid added two to go with his 24 disposals, while Andrew Brayshaw put aside his 14-disposal effort from the round-one loss to Geelong to finish with 39 possessions and a goal.
Even with Caleb Serong held to 16 disposals, four clearances and a goal by Melbourne tagger Koltyn Tholstrup - on top of Hayden Young missing with a hamstring injury - Fremantle still boasted plenty of midfield grunt.
"It was up there with his better games for the club, absolutely," Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir said of Bolton's display.
"I thought he was tremendous. More midfield time tonight because of Young's injury, and I thought he was effective in all phases of the game, and impacted in all phases of the game and all roles he played."
Melbourne ruckman Max Gawn battled hard for 23 disposals, eight clearances, 11 marks and 28 hitouts, while Jack Steele racked up 31 disposals, nine clearances and 610m gained for the visitors.
"At half-time we were in a very similar spot to last week."
— AFL (@AFL) March 21, 2026
Andy Brayshaw reflects on Fremantle's first win of '26.#AFLFreoDees pic.twitter.com/I00Zpcrs1L
The Demons lost key defender Daniel Turner to a game-ending hand injury in the second quarter.
Fremantle replaced Brandon Walker (soreness) with veteran Luke Ryan before the match.
The Dockers led by 42 points at quarter time, and such was their dominance, they could have easily kicked another three goals for the term if they had lowered their eyes at crucial times.
Kozzy Pickett put on the jets 💨#AFLFreoDees pic.twitter.com/gozBCiuOJs
— AFL (@AFL) March 21, 2026
Melbourne turned the tables in the second term with four unanswered goals, the most notable being Kysaiah Pickett's stop-and-prop snap that reduced the margin to 20 points.
Fremantle gave up a 35-point lead in their round-one loss to Geelong, and they weren't about to let another big lead slip through their fingers.
Sam Switkowski and Treacy popped up for goals just before half-time to get the buffer back out to 31 points, and Fremantle iced the game with a seven-goals-to-one third quarter to extend their lead to 67 points.
Pat Voss just casually bench pressing Ed Langdon 😂💪#AFLFreoDees pic.twitter.com/BCbflZLgPT
— AFL (@AFL) March 21, 2026
Melbourne got some consolation goals in the final quarter, but the biggest highlight was when Dockers behemoth Patrick Voss was tackled from above by Ed Langdon, and promptly lifted his opponent over his shoulder and walked him over the boundary line.
"You can't give a team like that a 42-point head start," Melbourne coach Steven King said after the match.
"From there, obviously you're behind the eight ball. But I was really pleased with the group to not capitulate and throw the towel in.
"At quarter time, things could have got really ugly. As a coach, I love the response of the group, but it's certainly a steep learning curve for a few of our young players on the road."
