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Why the Dockers should anchor Anzac Night clash
Nicholas Quinlan • April 26th, 2025 4:14 pm
Gerard Whateley and Sam Edmund are of the belief that Fremantle’s Anzac round game should be kept on Anzac Day.
The AFL across the last 30 years has made the Collingwood vs Essendon a permanent fixture on the day to pay respects to Australian and New Zealand war veterans.
In recent times, the AFL has also made the Richmond vs Melbourne Anzac Eve clash a permanent fixture since 2015.
While Fremantle are not always officially on Anzac Day, they often hold a tribute game for the Anzacs during the round since 1996 naming the game after Len Hall who was the last surviving WWI veteran from Western Australia.
But having played on Anzac Day for the first time since 2015, Gerard Whateley believes that the Dockers should have a permanent fixture in the night slot on that day.
“It felt last night like Fremantle has the claim to permanency as the night game on Anzac night,” Whateley declared on SEN’s Crunch Time.
“The Len Hall tribute match is in its 28th year, it drew 53,000 fans; we’ll wait to see what the television numbers are.
“It has become entrenched enough not just to be a Fremantle event but to be a major sporting event on the West Australian calendar.
“I know last night the Premier (Roger Cook) and the Minister of Veteran Affairs (Paul Papalia) were there and pledged to take up the cause.
“The addition of the Arthur Leggett Medal with Arthur having passed away last year, I think he was 106 years old.
“This now has everything in place, and I think including the timeslot which works perfectly to be the compendium piece, to be the third permanent plank on the Anzac Round fixture.
The TV numbers as posted by TV Tonight showed that the game had an average viewership of 489,000 people with a reach of 1,683,000 people.
This saw it rank only behind the Essendon vs Collingwood game and the Channel 7 and 9 News for viewership last night.
Sam Edmund would also add that it was one of the biggest home and away fixtures that the Dockers have had at Optus Stadium.
“That crowd you mentioned, Collingwood and Derby clashes aside, that’s the biggest home and away crowd that Fremantle has ever had at Optus Stadium,” Edmund added.
“So, people came, the occasion and it worked perfectly didn’t it?
“To have it (Anzac Day) as a doubleheader with the time difference, the AFL floated with that last year under a different format (and) different venue with GWS at Manuka.
“But to have Essendon and Collingwood clearly going nowhere into a game in the west.
“We know how much Andrew Dillion and his administration have built the schedule around events more than games and festivals of footy, this would be right in the sweet spot there.”
