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Fremantle's 2026: The Numbers Behind a Runaway Minor Premiership

76 points, a 142.5 per cent, and the league's stingiest defence. How the Dockers built the season's best resume.

Mitch HarlanSenior AFL Writer
Fremantle's 2026: The Numbers Behind a Runaway Minor Premiership
Editorial artwork

Fremantle sit on top of the AFL ladder on 76 points, eight clear of Sydney, with the competition's best percentage at 142.5. Those are minor-premiership numbers — and the underlying figures are even more emphatic.

The Dockers have conceded just 1,547 points, the fewest in the league by a wide margin, while scoring 2,204. No other club combines a top-three attack with the number-one defence.

The defensive foundation

Holding opponents to 220 goals across a season is the bedrock stat. In an era where scores from turnover decide finals, Fremantle simply refuse to give up easy chains — their 112–88 handling of Adelaide in Round 23 was a demonstration in controlling territory without over-committing numbers forward.

Perth Stadium has become a fortress, and September will run through it: the top-of-the-ladder finish delivers home qualifying finals in front of 60,000.

Fremantle's 2026: The Numbers Behind a Runaway Minor Premiership — editorial artwork
Editorial artwork

The September question

The only question left is the one the numbers can't answer: whether a dominant home-and-away season converts. Sydney on 68 and the 60-point trio of Brisbane, Hawthorn and Melbourne will have their say. The resume, though, is the strongest in the competition.

FremantleLadderStatisticsFinals

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