Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
The purple army’s faith in Fremantle hasn’t wavered with the Dockers’ home semifinal against Geelong a sellout on the same day tickets went on sale.
The club’s qualifying final against Hawthorn, which saw them stunned in a boilover, was also a sellout with more than 59,000 fans flocking to Optus Stadium in the biggest Dockers crowd ever.
The men in purple have enjoyed record crowds throughout 2026, with the club’s supporters setting a record for most consecutive crowds of 50,000 or more in a single season, with the hostile environment one of Fremantle’s biggest assets.
The swell in crowd numbers has also led to the club’s ‘Wharfie Time’ call becoming a league-wide phenomenon that other clubs have even prepared for.
However, they were stunned into near silence for much of Thursday night’s qualifying final as the Hawks, who triggered ‘Wharfie Time’ in round nine in a narrow defeat to Fremantle, claimed a stunning 32-point triumph.
The road to the flag from here, which now begins with a cutthroat semifinal against last year’s defeated grand finalists, Geelong, will be one of the hardest in recent seasons.
Even if they can take down seemingly perennial preliminary finalists Geelong, they will face Sydney at the SCG.
And while the Swans are undermanned with bans to five of their star players, as well as skipper Callum Mills rupturing his ACL during the club’s qualifying final victory over Brisbane, winning a preliminary final on the road is never easy.
Plus, the Swans have featured in two of the past four grand finals and will be more than motivated to go back after being thumped in both.
