AFL: Fremantle Dockers and West Coast Eagles form still unclear four rounds into season

Fremantle has shown more than a glimpse of the promise it displayed over the past two seasons, thrashing West Coast and GWS in consecutive weeks.

The Dockers sit in the top four, and are enjoying their best start to the season since 2015, but it's still difficult to gauge how good they actually are.

Saturday night's win against the Giants without captain Nat Fyfe, rising star Caleb Serong, and coach Justin Longmuir, demonstrated the young brigade has plenty to offer, and suggests the Purple Army should expect at least a finals berth this year.

But a quick summary of the season shows there will be ups and downs along the way.

As a rule of thumb, Western Australian teams need to win all home games and snatch a couple on the road to make finals.

The Dockers started with an impressive win against the Crows in Adelaide, and then reverted to their old ways — bombing inside 50as they went down to Saint Kilda at Perth Stadium. 

But comprehensive wins over West Coast and GWS have set tongues wagging, especially from within the club.

“There’s still plenty of growth. We are a young group,” stand-in coach Jaymie Graham said after the 34-point victory over the Giants.

«We’ve been looking for consistency. It’s something that came out of last year.

“Even this year we haven’t been consistent over four quarters. That can come with a young group of players.»

The Dockers have won consecutive games without Fyfe and Serong, allowing other players to step up in the process. 

Andrew Brayshaw has underlined his ability, and now has to learn how to deal with a hard tag, while recruit Will Brodie showed his value with a career high 36 disposals against GWS.

And while Saturday's win was impressive,it's important to notethe Giants have only beaten Gold Coast