Fremantle lifted late to hold off a determined St Kilda at Optus Stadium, avenging their round eight loss to win by 12 points and extending the Dockers' winning run to six games in a Sunday thriller that went down to the wire. 

Fremantle trailed early in the final term before kicking five of the last six goals to win 11.15 (81) to 9.15 (69) in the club's annual Starlight Purple Haze game.

Andrew Brayshaw (25 and six inside 50s) was the best of a midfield unit that was well held again by the Saints, who won the clearances 46-31 and the centre clearances 13-7, with Jack Macrae, Hugo Garcia and Jack Steele all performing well. 

Garcia paid particular attention to Caleb Serong throughout the game, but was able to win a game-high 10 clearances among his 24 disposals.

00:52

RD16 | Saints small delivers a big roost

Max Hall gets involved for a second time further afield to hit the scoreboard in style

The Saints were relentless all day and would have also been thrilled with the performance of young defender Alix Tauru.

After so much attention on who Marcus Windhager would tag, the St Kilda stopper instead started forward and left Macrae, Garcia and Steele to handle the big midfield match-ups. 

Windhager pushed up into the midfield from there as the Saints got a lot of numbers around the ball and made sure the stoppages played out on their terms, winning the clearances 14-6 in the first quarter. 

In-form half-back Clark extended the lead early in the second quarter when he was sent into range by a 50m penalty against Dan Butler, but the Saints countered to kick three of the next four as their midfield dominance continued. 

Playing in front of the Fremantle crowd for the first time since he left at the end of 2023, Liam Henry snapped an excellent shot and shooshed the Purple Army as the Saints took a narrow lead. 

00:56

RD16 | Henry dazzles on return

Liam Henry ‘tells the crowd to shush’ after conjuring an eye-catching major against his ex-team in his comeback to the senior side

Clearances at the main break were 25-11 in the Saints' favour, and centre clearances were 8-3, with the visitors getting more reward for their ascendency in a three-goal-to-one third term. 
 
Consecutive goals to Butler, Max Hall, Isaac Keeler, and then Jack Higgins at the start of the fourth quarter, gave the Saints a 14-point lead early in the final term.

Marshall magic 
St Kilda ruck Rowan Marshall had his work cut out for him against the double team of Sean Darcy and Luke Jackson, but he found a way to have a big impact in the first half. Beaten 29-11 in hitouts, Marshall found other ways to have an influence, competing at ground level to have a team-high five clearances in the first half and getting creative to kick a brilliant second-quarter goal. Wrestling with Darcy at a forward 50 stoppage, Marshall held his man off as the throw-in came down and kicked the ball out of mid-air. He flushed the kick as well as he could have hoped, going on to finish with 21 disposals and 10 clearances. 

00:55

RD16 | Rowan’s ‘remarkable’ mid-air volley a wild GOTY contender

Rowan Marshall stuns Optus Stadium after kicking the footy straight out of the ruck contest and somehow getting it to spiral through the big sticks

FREMANTLE         2.2   5.5   6.10   11.15 (81)
ST KILDA         1.5   4.8   7.12  9.15 (69)

GOALS
Fremantle: Treacy 3, Bolton, Clark, Darcy, Dudley, Jackson, O'Driscoll, Reid 
St Kilda: Keeler 2, Butler, Hall, Henry, Higgins, Marshall, Wanganeen-Milera 

BEST
Fremantle: Clark, Treacy, Darcy, Jackson, Brayshaw, Ryan 
St Kilda: Garcia, Marshall, Macrae, Tauru, Wanganeen-Milera, Hall 

INJURIES
Fremantle: Nil 
St Kilda: Nil 

SUBSTITUTES 
Fremantle: Nat Fyfe (not used) 
St Kilda: Jack Carroll (replaced Dan Butler in the fourth quarter)  

Crowd: 41,600 at Optus Stadium

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