FREMANTLE’S rapidly improving defence has earned high praise from coach Mark Harvey after his side held West Coast goalless for the majority of the second half in Sunday’s 38-point western derby win.  

The Eagles were 23 points clear early in the second term and seemingly in control of the 31st derby, but would not kick a goal for the next 76 minutes of play.

Fremantle meanwhile kicked 11 straight goals, and Harvey said the side's sixth straight derby win had as much to do with his backmen as his goalkickers.

“They were terrific, our whole back half,” the coach said.  

“We didn’t have momentum in the game and they looked like they were getting it inside their forward without a lot of pressure a lot of the time.

“I thought our defence really stood up. A lot of our defenders had really good desperate, aggressive games.

“They work very well with each other, they’re pretty selfless.”

West Coast ruckmen Dean Cox and Nic Naitanui rotated between the centre square and forward 50m, and the tactic seemed likely to stretch Fremantle’s defence.

However, the pair finished with one goal between them. Quinten Lynch managed just one goal on his return and Josh Kennedy (three goals) and Mark LeCras (two) were still beaten, with the Eagles having had one more inside 50 than Fremantle.

“West Coast were throwing a lot of tall forwards down there at times and they were trying to challenge us in that area,” Harvey said.  

“We try not to make too many changes down there and let the players take care of it themselves. They acquitted themselves really well.”

Up the ground, Fremantle midfielders Ryan Crowley and Paul Hasleby comprehensively beat senior Eagles Andrew Embley and Matt Priddis.

Harvey said his side, which had 105 tackles to West Coast’s 72, had a defensive mindset all over the ground.   

“It’s the willingness to tackle that’s important, and the intent,” he said.  

“At this particular stage of the year we’ve got to make sure it’s entrenched, particularly in our younger players.”

Fremantle starts a tough three-week stretch against the Brisbane Lions next week, with Collingwood (home) and the Sydney Swans (away) to follow.

“You learn not to get carried away with where you’re at,” Harvey said. “It’s important that we stamp ourselves and we have early.”

The coach said Rhys Palmer’s return from a knee reconstruction was impressive after the midfielder won 18 possessions and kicked a goal.

“I thought he worked into the game really well,” he said. “That might be indicative of just making sure that he played all those games that he did in the lead-up to this one.”