PITY the poor Fremantle supporter. Having set an AFL record in dropping five consecutive games in which they had led at three-quarter-time, the Dockers found another way to lose yesterday, winning the first, third and final stanzas against the Brisbane Lions, yet all but handing the game to the home side in a horror half-hour either side of half-time.

It was during that time that the Lions kicked seven unanswered goals, eventually winning by 22 points to maintain their unbeaten record at the Gabba against the Dockers.

The sides' key forwards tell an interesting part of the tale. Jonathan Brown was blanketed in the second half by Luke McPharlin after earlier kicking three goals from 15 marks; Matthew Pavlich improved Fremantle's fortunes late after earlier playing in the centre, robbing his side of badly needed firepower.

The result sent the Lions to the halfway point of the season with a 7-4 win-loss ledger and a likely first tilt at the finals since 2004. They will face tougher tasks than yesterday, starting with the Western Bulldogs next weekend. But if they're not yet top-tier contenders, they will cause plenty of trouble, too.

In Brown, Simon Black, Luke Power, Jamie Charman and Daniel Bradshaw, the Lions boast the most hardened group of premiership players in the competition. Their supporting cast remains a work in progress, but the likes of Daniel Merrett, Jed Adcock, Joel Macdonald and Joel Patfull have completed their apprenticeships and are ready to take the next step.

For the Dockers, it is hard to know whether it is a measure of young Rhys Palmer, or an indictment of his senior fellows, that he was again his side's best player. Palmer finished with 30 possessions, four clearances, eight inside 50s, a goal from outside the boundary kicked after the three-quarter-time siren and one hand on this year's Rising Star award. The lively performance of another first-year player, Chris Mayne, gave Fremantle fans reason to cheer. There was not much else to get excited about, especially in a game in which most of the action was played between the 50-metre arcs as both sides continually turned over the ball. Granted, the Dockers are missing Des Headland and Paul Hasleby, but, Pavlich aside, they look variously too old (Peter Bell), too erratic (Chris Tarrant) and too undisciplined (Heath Black, reported again for striking).

And yet they stay in games. Two Jeff Farmer goals was enough to win them a lacklustre first quarter, and the Dockers came back hard late in the third as Pavlich began to get on top of Patfull.

Palmer's goal after the siren kept Fremantle within 25 points at the final break, but it would have been a colossal reversal of fortunes for it to finish over the top of its opponent.

As it was, the Dockers were only able to make up a further three points on the Lions, who held their flailing opponents at bay in the manner of a boxer with superior reach, but no knockout punch. To be fair, the Lions were reduced to 20 men by the end, and had been robbed of potency when Bradshaw came off with a tight hamstring in the second quarter.

He is in doubt for next weekend, along with Scott Harding (knee).

BRISBANE LIONS  2.1 8.5 11.10 14.12 (96) 
FREMANTLE  2.3 3.7 7.9 10.14 (74)

GOALS: Brisbane Lions: Brown 3, Johnstone 3, Notting, Black, Rischitelli, Harding, Leuenberger, Sherman, Charman, Corrie. Fremantle: Pavlich 3, Farmer 2, Carr, Tarrant, Palmer, Sandilands, Mayne.

BEST: Brisbane Lions: Black, Johnstone, Macdonald, Adcock, Power, Brown. Fremantle: Palmer, McPharlin, Michael Johnson, Pavlich, Sandilands, Tarrant.

INJURIES: Bris Lions: Drummond (hamstring) replaced in selected side by Leuenberger, Harding (knee), Bradshaw (hamstring). Fremantle: Drum replaced in selected side by Thornton.

REPORTS: Selwood (BL) by emerg umpire Armstrong for wrestling Black (Frem) in second quarter, Black (Frem) by Armstrong for wrestling Selwood (BL) in second quarter. Black (Frem) by field umpire Jeffery for striking Selwood (BL) in second quarter.

UMPIRES: Stewart, Ellis, Jeffery.

CROWD: 24,506 at the Gabba.

THE UPSHOT On one hand, Fremantle is closer than it's been given credit for. It has been competitive in all its matches and won three quarters against the Lions. On the other hand, it looked further away than ever, losing control of the game in a dreadful second quarter.

TALKING POINT A knee injury to Scott Harding raised the ire of his coach Leigh Matthews after the match as he drew attention to the rock-hard centre square at the Gabba.

HOT AND COLD Simon Black is playing arguably the best football of his wonderfully consistent career. For Fremantle, respected veteran Shaun McManus looks a player whose time has come and gone. He found the ball just five times.