AFL grand final: Live coverage of Fremantle Dockers’ Thursday as club ramps up preparations for decider

Fremantle defender Jordan Clark has backed Brennan Cox to be ready for anything if he is picked for the AFL grand final but admits there will be a heartache story among his squad when the team is announced later today.

The Dockers arrived in Melbourne shortly after 1pm WST with both Cox and Oscar McDonald on the plane. They appear to be competing for the same position in the line up after Cox recovered from a calf injury.

Clark said Cox is ready, but everyone knows somebody will miss out.

“Coxy has been a wonderful player for us. If he comes in or whichever way it falls, I’m confident in both,” he said.

“There always is (heartache). You just wrap your arms around them. As cliched as it is, there is always a heartbreak story. Unfortunately it’s got to happen every year. They’re still part of us.”

The Dockers are ON THE GROUND in Melbourne!

Just a tick over 47 hours until the ball gets tossed in the air at the MCG...

Here’s what it looked like while the team was in the air.

The Dockers are set to be on Melbourne soil any moment, with their flight scheduled to touch down at 3pm local time / 1pm WA time.

Dual All-Australian defender Jordan Clark will chat to the media upon arrival.

2pm WA time is this afternoon’s slot for the start of Lachie Neale’s appeal, where the Lion will roll the dice for one final time in an attempt to be cleared to play on Saturday.

There’s some chatter around today about a potential new angle of vision that will shed further light on the case - which would be a stunning development if that hadn’t been uncovered in the three days between the incident and the initial tribunal hearing.

We’ll be listening in to the appeal via video conference and bring you all the updates in this blog in just over an hour’s time.

As mentioned earlier, Melbourne’s weather is NOT coming to the grand final party.

Saturday’s forecast is for showers, with anywhere between 3 and 15mm of rain set to fall in the metro area.

As a result, there are reports that the curtain-raiser - an under-17s Futures clash - has been moved away from the MCG for grand final day, and will now take place at Whitten Oval in Melbourne’s western suburbs.

Best to pack a poncho if you’ve got tickets in the outer, Freo fans...

The Wiggles will be front and centre at Friday’s grand final parade - and there’s no prizes for guessing which team ‘Strong John’ is supporting as he dons his purple skivvy.

“I’m already dressed for the occasion. Go Freo!” he said this morning.

When Freo last reached a grand final in 2013, they punched their ticket at Subiaco Oval in the prelim.

That wider area is now the home of Bob Hawke College, and staff there today who bleed purple gathered to show their support for the Dockers sitting among the old bench seats on the northern side of the oval that remains.

This morning saw the eight starters confirmed for the half-time grand final sprint - and Eagles young gun Willem Duursma is among them.

Duursma is looking to become the first West Coast player to win (not counting 2021, when it was solely Eagles and Dockers players at Optus Stadium due to COVID travel restrictions) and the first No.1 draft pick to win since Brett Deledio all the way back in 2005.

Kylie Forrester from Perth is a Hawthorn fan but is now supporting the Dockers.

She spent Thursday morning buying merchandise at the AFL Footy Festival including a giant hat.

“I’m from WA and they’re going for their first which will be wonderful. My partner Tyler goes for Brisbane and it would be their third in a row, so it’s a win-win for us really,” she said.

Forrester’s partner wasn’t an impressed by her decision or her hat.

“We’ve had a few arguments about it, but happy wife, happy life,” he laughed.

The nation’s two major air carriers Qantas and Virgin combining to put on 24 extra flights between Perth and Melbourne this week meant there was plenty of activity at Perth Airport on Wednesday morning.

And while Fremantle fans spoken to by The West Australian bemoaned the cost of getting to the MCG, they said it was no obstacle in their mission to see the club’s second-ever grand final appearance.

“(I would pay) everything and anything to get to this game with the kids,” Jody Crothers said.

Peter Baker added: “I got stung fairly badly. I couldn’t get business class, but at least we’re on a plane.”

Some supporters had opted to book their trips out of hope, which had paid off in spades.

“I took the punt about three-and-a-half months ago, with a double-legger via Sydney, but I had to do it,” Dylan Hindle said.

“It wasn’t that cheap, but it’s worth it, worth every penny. If I had to pay more, I would do it, because you don’t know when it’s going to happen again.”

“We booked in June. Because we’re priority one members, we were guaranteed a ticket,” Leanne Baker said.

“We got a really good package, because we booked in June, good seats.”