A One-Point Derby Win, a Nine-Match Ban

Before the first bounce at Subiaco on July 30, 2000, West Coast’s Michael Gardiner was penalised for striking Fremantle’s Matthew Pavlich. Barely two minutes into the match, Dale Kickett struck Phillip Read. Western Derby XII would finish with a one-point Fremantle victory, but its repeated punches and on-field melees brought suspensions and fines. Kickett received a nine-match ban for striking Read twice and Andrew Embley once.

Fremantle had lost the previous derby by 117 points. Its coach, Damian Drum, said after this match that his players felt they had been pushed around for too long. “For them to want to stand up and do something about it, I think that is fantastic,” he said. Whether the preparation had included instructions to throw punches remained disputed. Glen Jakovich alleged that it had; Drum denied the claim. Kickett later rejected the suggestion that Fremantle had entered with a plan to attack opponents illegally.

In a 2006 interview with The West Australian, Kickett said this had been his third game back after suffering four broken vertebrae against the Western Bulldogs. He had worn a protective guard the previous week but found it uncomfortable and played the derby without it. “I felt they (Eagles) were targeting my back,” he said. “It may have been a coincidence, but that’s what I felt.” Read denied targeting the injury or that West Coast had planned to do so. “I respected Kicketty, he’d be the last person I’d target,” he said.

Their clashes continued. After spending time on the bench following the first-half disturbances, Kickett returned in the third quarter and Read picked him up. The West Australian’s account described the two trading blows, with Kickett putting Read in a headlock before Ashley McIntosh pulled him away. Kickett said he had warned Read to leave his back alone. Read recalled an ordinary bump followed by Kickett asking whether he wanted to fight.

The anger reached the coaching staff. West Coast coach Ken Judge later said he wanted to confront Drum at three-quarter time about another Kickett–Read clash. Instead, he encountered Fremantle assistant John Dimmer on the stairs and berated him. On the scoreboard, West Coast still led by 18 points, though Fremantle had cut an early third-quarter deficit of 42.

Clive Waterhouse led the comeback. Kickett also kicked a final-quarter goal, and Fremantle moved ahead. Near the end, Peter Matera snapped towards goal for West Coast; the ball eluded Darren Glass and struck the post. Fremantle held on by a point. Recalling the match for AFLplayers.com.au in 2017, West Coast defender Daniel Metropolis said Waterhouse had turned the game. Of the fighting, he offered a less celebratory assessment: “When we looked at it afterwards, we didn’t think it was that flash.”

The tribunal suspended Gardiner for two matches for striking Pavlich. Fremantle’s Brad Dodd received two matches for attempting to strike Read, and Read received two for striking Dodd in retaliation. Other players were fined for melee involvement. Kickett’s nine-match penalty was the longest of those suspensions; he later said he accepted it, begrudgingly, while believing he had been made a scapegoat.

In the 2006 interview, Kickett acknowledged that his retaliation had gone too far. He said he had spent the week after the game in bed, feeling depressed, and that his family had endured abuse. “I couldn’t wait to get out of the tribunal,” he recalled. “I almost said thank you for the nine weeks. I just wanted it to be over.” Of the result, he said: “The one-point win was not worth what I copped in all that bullsh-t.”