North Melbourne’s Western Australian stretch began on Saturday at Hands Oval in Bunbury, where it hosted Fremantle in a round 13 home game that looked anything but routine. The Kangaroos were still carrying the lift of their second-biggest comeback victory in club history, while the Dockers arrived after outclassing Brisbane on the Lions’ home deck.
For the match itself, North Melbourne made one change. Zac Fisher came in for Finn O’Sullivan, who had concussion. Fremantle made three changes, bringing in Hayden Young, Jaeger O’Meara and Oscar McDonald while Brennan Cox, Matthew Johnson and Chris Scerri dropped out. The game also drew attention because North Melbourne was described as the home side despite being on a WA sojourn away from its usual base.
That made the venue part of the story as much as the football. Hands Oval put the Kangaroos in front of a different crowd at the start of their West Australian run, while Fremantle was stepping into a month closer to home after this match. The Dockers had looked sharp enough against Brisbane to be described as the red-hot side to beat at the halfway mark of the season, and they were now heading into a spell that included a bye before meetings with the Cats and Suns.
Selection movement elsewhere underlined how quickly the round was shifting. In Brisbane, Hugh McCluggage, Keidean Coleman and Cody Curtin were out, while Darragh Joyce, James Tunstill and Shadeau Brain came in. Gold Coast, which had a bye before its QClash, was set to hand Jai Murray his AFL debut against a Brisbane side that had lost three consecutive games for just the second time since it was knocked out of the 2019 finals. Will Graham and Lachie Weller were added for the Suns, with Zeke Uwland, Nick Holman and Sam Clohesy omitted.
What happened at Hands Oval will shape the next leg for both clubs, but the larger picture is already clear: North Melbourne used round 13 to launch its WA stretch, and Fremantle entered a friendlier part of the calendar with momentum and a reshuffled side. The unanswered piece is the simplest one — how the Kangaroos and Dockers matched up on the day that mattered.
