Round 16, 2012
Melbourne vs Fremantle
Saturday March 27
Venue: Docklands
Attendance: 13,284
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Melbourne | 6.4 | 8.6 | 12.7 | 12.11.83 |
| Fremantle | 3.2 | 6.5 | 11.6 | 18.9.117 |
Fremantle win by 34 points
Goalkickers: Brad Green 3, Rohan Bail 2, Sam Blease 2, Stefan Martin 2, Matthew Bate 1, Jamie Bennell 1, Colin Sylvia 1
Brownlow Votes
2 - Nathan Jones
Milestones:
First game
Tom Couch
Last game
Jamie Bennell
The Demons jumped out to a three goal lead early before Fremantle pinned them back, but another two goals at the end of the term gave Melbourne their best quarter of the year, and a handy lead.
Mark Jamar re-injured his calf just minutes into his return, and was replaced by James Strauss - leaving Stefan Martin to play a lone hand in the ruck for the rest of the day. With one down on the bench and both Martin and Grimes suffering minor injuries the Demons started to wither.
Despite the 'home' side retaining the lead into half time, Fremantle had wrested back control of the match and were unlucky not to make more of their dominance in the second quarter to close the gap even further. They started the third quarter behind before quickly seizing the lead.
Just when it looked like Melbourne were dead and buried they kicked four goals in a row to open up another handy lead, but they relaxed to concede two at the end of the quarter and wouldn't boot another major for the day. Their cause wasn't assisted when Jamie Bennell suffered a serious ACL injury during a marking contest.
With just two fit players on the bench the Demons were overrun by a rampant Freo in the final term, their third goalless last quarter of the year when they'd been in a good position at three-quarter time.
Best were Martin, McDonald and Green.
The attendance was the third lowest in Docklands history, and Melbourne's second worst at the ground.
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