AFLThe season, counted

FremantleAFL club

Fremantle went from 13th to top, and stayed there for 14 rounds

Round by round: how the AFL's minor premiers climbed the ladder, what their margins looked like on the way, and how their finals have gone so far.

By Adam16 Sept 20262 min readNumbers to the semi-finals

Figure 1

Ladder position after every round

18 clubs · Opening Round to Round 24

Fremantleevery other clubtop eight

Note: Position after each round, ranked on premiership points and then percentage. A club without a game that round keeps its place. Completed games only.Source: Punt's database, read 15 September 2026.

Show the numbers

Club	OR	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	R11	R12	R13	R14	R15	R16	R17	R18	R19	R20	R21	R22	R23	R24
Fremantle	13	13	5	3	4	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Sydney	1	1	3	4	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Brisbane Lions	6	15	16	13	9	6	9	5	4	4	7	8	9	9	7	8	5	4	4	4	4	5	4	3	3
Hawthorn	8	6	4	5	6	3	3	3	3	3	6	4	3	3	5	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	4	4
Geelong	9	9	14	10	11	8	6	9	6	5	3	3	4	4	3	4	4	7	9	9	9	7	7	6	5
Adelaide	11	5	8	12	13	11	10	13	11	8	8	7	8	8	6	5	6	5	5	5	5	4	5	7	6
Melbourne	14	7	11	8	7	9	8	4	7	7	5	6	6	5	4	6	7	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	7
Western Bulldogs	5	3	2	2	1	4	7	10	12	9	10	9	7	6	8	7	8	8	7	7	7	8	9	9	8
Collingwood	4	8	9	7	10	13	11	8	8	10	11	10	11	11	13	11	10	9	8	8	8	9	8	8	9
Carlton	10	11	15	16	15	16	16	16	16	16	16	15	14	13	14	14	12	10	12	12	11	10	10	10	10
St Kilda	7	14	10	14	14	14	13	12	9	11	9	11	12	12	10	12	13	12	10	10	10	11	11	11	11
Greater Western Sydney	3	10	13	15	16	12	14	14	14	13	13	12	10	10	11	13	14	13	11	11	12	12	12	12	12
Gold Coast	2	2	1	1	3	5	4	7	5	6	4	5	5	7	9	9	11	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	13
North Melbourne	15	4	6	6	5	7	5	6	10	12	12	13	13	14	12	10	9	11	13	13	13	13	13	13	14
Port Adelaide	16	16	7	11	8	10	12	11	13	14	14	14	16	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15
West Coast	18	18	12	9	12	15	15	15	15	15	15	16	15	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16
Richmond	17	12	17	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	18	18	17	17	17	17
Essendon	12	17	18	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	17	17	18	18	18	18

Why?

Fremantle were 13th after Round 1 and top for every round from Round 11. I wanted to see how they climbed, and what their wins looked like on the way.

The climb

Fremantle had no Opening Round game and lost Round 1 to Geelong by 10, which left them 13th. A week later they beat Melbourne by 48 and were 5th. By Round 5 they were second, behind Sydney. They went top in Round 11, and no club moved them for the rest of the home-and-away season.

ladder position, Round 1 to Round 11: 13th → 1st
rounds in a row on top: 14; Rounds 11–24
percentage, home and away: 137.2; 2,286 for · 1,666 against

One thrashing, six close ones

Nineteen wins from 23 games. The biggest was 124 points, against North Melbourne in Round 13. Most were not like that. Six of the 19 came by 15 points or fewer. They included Adelaide by 2 in Round 4 and Collingwood by 6 a week later.

Figure 2

Fremantle's margin, game by game

points · home and away, then finals

won bylost bylabel = opponent · Round 14 was a bye

Note: Blue and brown mark which side of zero a margin fell on; they are a difference, not a verdict. Completed games only.Source: Punt's database, read 15 September 2026.

Show the numbers

Round	Opponent	Score	Margin
R1	Geelong	100–110	−10
R2	Melbourne	118–70	+48
R3	Richmond	103–43	+60
R4	Adelaide	78–76	+2
R5	Collingwood	45–39	+6
R6	West Coast	97–41	+56
R7	Carlton	103–89	+14
R8	Western Bulldogs	114–102	+12
R9	Hawthorn	88–73	+15
R10	Essendon	104–61	+43
R11	St Kilda	104–74	+30
R12	Brisbane Lions	103–78	+25
R13	North Melbourne	155–31	+124
R15	Geelong	99–90	+9
R16	Gold Coast	80–29	+51
R17	Greater Western Sydney	88–109	−21
R18	Sydney	111–73	+38
R19	Port Adelaide	103–75	+28
R20	West Coast	112–42	+70
R21	Western Bulldogs	78–41	+37
R22	Melbourne	109–113	−4
R23	Adelaide	112–88	+24
R24	Carlton	82–119	−37
Finals week 1	Hawthorn	40–72	−32
Semi-final	Geelong	120–106	+14

The four losses were spread across the season:

Lost to	Round	By
Geelong	Round 1	10
Greater Western Sydney	Round 17	21
Melbourne	Round 22	4
Carlton	Round 24	37

Every AFL player's game logEach Fremantle player's record, game by game, including the four losses.Open the AFL players

Top, then the long way round

Fremantle lost finals week 1, so the minor premiers had to win a semi-final.

Finals week 1 · Perth Stadium

Hawthorn72

Fremantle40

Semi-final · Perth Stadium

Fremantle120

Geelong106

Preliminary finalNot played when read

And the preliminary final?

The preliminary finals had not been played when these numbers were read on 15 September, and nothing on this page says how they went. I want to add the preliminary final and the Grand Final next, to see where Fremantle's season ended.

Summary

Ladder: 13thafter Round 11stRounds 11–24
Home and away: 19–476 points137.2percentage
Finals: −32v Hawthorn+14v Geelong

The working

Definitions, sources and when the numbers were read

Ladder: Position after each round, ranked on premiership points and then percentage. A club without a game that round keeps its place.
Percentage: Points for ÷ points against × 100, home and away only: 2,286 ÷ 1,666.
Margins: Home-and-away Rounds 1–24, with the bye in Round 14, then the two finals played.
Read: 15 September 2026, from Punt's database. Completed games only.
Not in this article: Who wins the preliminary final, or anything about prices.
Sources and terms: Every source Punt uses, with its licence, is on Credits. The terms are defined in the Glossary, and the methodology page sets out where every number comes from and the rules it follows.

Every AFL playerFremantle's included, game by gameOpen

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Club

R10

R11

R12

R13

R14

R15

R16

R17

R18

R19

R20

R21

R22

R23

R24

Fremantle

Sydney

Brisbane Lions

Hawthorn

Geelong

Adelaide

Melbourne

Western Bulldogs

Collingwood

Carlton

St Kilda

Greater Western Sydney

Gold Coast

North Melbourne

Port Adelaide

West Coast

Richmond

Essendon

Round

Opponent

Score

Margin

Geelong

100–110

−10

Melbourne

118–70

+48

Richmond

103–43

+60

Adelaide

78–76

Collingwood

45–39

West Coast

97–41

+56

Carlton

103–89

+14

Western Bulldogs

114–102

+12

Hawthorn

88–73

+15

R10

Essendon

104–61

+43

R11

St Kilda

104–74

+30

R12

Brisbane Lions

103–78

+25

R13

North Melbourne

155–31

+124

R15

Geelong

99–90

R16

Gold Coast

80–29

+51

R17

Greater Western Sydney

88–109

−21

R18

Sydney

111–73

+38

R19

Port Adelaide

103–75

+28

R20

West Coast

112–42

+70

R21

Western Bulldogs

78–41

+37

R22

Melbourne

109–113

−4

R23

Adelaide

112–88

+24

R24

Carlton

82–119

−37

Finals week 1

Hawthorn

40–72

−32

Semi-final

Geelong

120–106

+14

Lost to

Round

Geelong

Round 1

Greater Western Sydney

Round 17

Melbourne

Round 22

Carlton

Round 24