Dockers’ Coach Takes the Field in Botswana – Fremantle’s Grand Final Adventure

In a move that would make a kangaroo blush, the Dockers’ first coach was spotted on a Botswana savannah on the day the club was supposed to be playing the grand final.

The newly appointed coach, who had been in town only weeks earlier, apparently missed the bus to Perth and instead boarded a flight to Botswana, perhaps to practice a new, off‑the‑beaten‑track coaching style.

The league, known for its love of bureaucracy, had only recently granted Fremantle a licence, and the coach’s misstep may be the first evidence that the club’s ‘different’ approach extends beyond the field.

Dockers fans, who grew up on dusty football fields and the smell of burnt sausage, have always expected their club to be as gritty as a mining town, but a coach in Botswana is a new level of ‘different’.

Council officials in Fremantle tried to arrange a video link, but the internet connection was as patchy as the club’s early season form.

Meanwhile, the weather in Botswana was a sunny 30°C, a welcome relief compared to the Melbourne heat that the Dockers had to endure during training.

The grand final itself, held at the iconic Waverley Park, saw the Dockers struggling to keep pace with the opposition, while their coach’s absence was felt like a missing lineout.

If the Dockers had the same luck as their coach, they would have missed the final whistle entirely.

Despite the misadventure, the club’s supporters rallied, chanting ‘Go Dockers, Go!’ from the stands, and the coach’s Botswana trip became a meme that spread faster than a viral footy video.

In the end, the Dockers’ grand final day will be remembered not for the score, but for the fact that their first coach was halfway across the world, proving once again that Fremantle is a club that truly does things the hard way.