FREMANTLE have gone down to the Western Bulldogs by 65 points in their round one clash at Subiaco Oval on Sunday.

After a great start, the home side trailed by 35 points at the long break and showed good signs up forward in the third term, but were punished for their errors across half back.

Fremantle began in hot form when debutant Stephen Hill made a magnificent start to his AFL career, booting a goal from 50m with his first kick after receiving a 50m penalty.

The No.3 pick overall in the 2008 NAB AFL Draft had a great start, and then last year’s NAB Rising Star Rhys Palmer slotted Freo’s second in the third minute when he cleverly grubbered one through off the left boot.

The Bulldogs didn’t panic though and Ryan Griffen opened their account when he kicked truly from 50m. The visitors then went on a run and kicked four more goals to open up a 16-point lead.

Fremantle’s other first-gamer Nic Suban then kicked to the advantage of Brett Peake , who stemmed the flow of Bulldog scoring by running in to an open goal and booting his first.

Peake’s second from a set shot narrowed the gap to three points, but Ryan Griffen kicked his third of the quarter to give his side a nine-point advantage at the first change.

The visitors also kicked the opening goal of the second term after four minutes through Matthew Boyd and Lindsay Gilbee backed that up with a trademark long bomb from outside 50m and the Bulldogs had opened up a 22-point lead.

But Fremantle rallied again and pegged back two goals through an unlikely source as backman Michael Johnson made a successful foray into the forward line.

The Bulldogs then went on another five-goal run and opened up a 41-point lead, but Fremantle skipper Matthew Pavlich gave his side a sniff with his first goal just before half time to make the deficit 35 points.

The home side came out in the third term looking like they meant business. After Mitch Hahn kicked the first, Fremantle hit a purple patch with Byron Schammer and Luke McPharlin kicking majors, but Nathan Eagleton then drove a 50m drop punt into a howling easterly wind to all but restore the half-time buffer.

But Fremantle wouldn’t go away. Ryan Murphy beautifully converted a set shot and when Brett Peake ran 40m into the forward line, dummied around a defender, and kicked his third the purple army were on their feet at Subi.

Two more goals from the Bulldogs were cancelled out by a beautiful left foot goal from long range from first-gamer Nic Suban with only 13 seconds remaining to again gave Freo the impetus going into the final term just 22 points in arrears.

Missed set shots from Paul Hasleby and Josh Head early in the final term would prove costly as the Bulldogs took their chances and kicked away to record a 65-point victory.

Best
Fremantle: Paul Duffield, Brett Peake, Paul Hasleby, Chris Tarrant, Steven Dodd, Rhys Palmer
Western Bulldogs: Matthew Boyd, Lindsay Gilbee, Daniel Giansiracusa, Ryan Griffen, Daniel Cross, Shaun Higgins, Mitch Hahn

Injuries
Fremantle: Roger Hayden replaced in selected side by Marcus Drum
Western Bulldogs: Robert Murphyreplaced in selected side by Tom Williams

Reports: Nil
Umpires: James, Stevic, Keating
Official crowd:34,364 at Subiaco Oval