Fremantle are making a habit of giving fans heart attacks at Adelaide Oval.

For the fourth time in as many games, the Dockers have been involved in an extraordinary finish and for the second time in as many weeks, they won.

It was a two-point win over Adelaide last week, a six-point win over Port Adelaide last year, a three-point loss to the Power in 2024 and now a six-point win against Collingwood.

This was a night where Fremantle were a long way below their best. But when the game was on the line, Matthew Johnson had a night to remember.

Johnson passed the ball to Jye Amiss that gave Fremantle the chance to win and then he kicked the goal that gave the Dockers the 7.3 (45) to 5.9 (39) victory.

And then when Josh Treacy was required to stand in the hole and take the match saving mark that he didn’t take during finals, he stood tall with a massive clunk.

This was a night where Collingwood won the inside 50 battle 61-45 but Fremantle’s backline was enormous. Alex Pearce and Luke Ryan were epic.

It was a wet night and Fremantle gave Collingwood too many goals early by trying to play dry weather footy.

Pat Voss dropped a regulation mark, Murphy Reid handballed to nobody, Neil Erasmus missed Brennan Cox with a pass into the centre square when the defender was all by himself and then Caleb Serong kicked the ball straight to Billy Frampton when going inside 50.

When Pearce took an intercept mark and played on under pressure, he turned the ball over and the Dockers were lucky not to concede a goal.

They went to quarter time trailing by only one point despite having just five of the first 20 inside 50s. Collingwood surged forward after every Fremantle mistake but couldn’t score.

Fremantle’s backline held up brilliantly with Pearce and Luke Ryan denying the Magpies time and time again.

When they looked after the footy, they looked good. Their only goal for the term came after Chris Scerri kept the ball alive on the boundary line and Corey Wagner found Sam Switkowski alone.

But Fremantle weren’t taking marks, weren’t winning crumbs and weren’t looking after the ball.

The Dockers went really tall inside 50 in the second quarter. Sean Darcy played in the ruck, Jackson went forward and played alongside Josh Treacy, Voss and Jye Amiss.

That didn’t last long because Darcy got concussed, but not before Shai Bolton kicked a classy goal to give Fremantle the lead.

Fremantle’s issues remained though. Errors in the middle of the ground led to a goal to Ned Long, then another set of fumbled allowed Dan McStay to kick another.

Something had to change. Collingwood led the inside 50 battle 35-20 despite both teams having the same number of disposals and the clearances also being even.

Nick Daicos had a game-high 17 disposals but wasn’t having his usual dominance. Jordan de Goey was on the bench after being concussed.

The Dockers were a long way short of their best but were only nine points down at half-time.

The way they were playing was reminiscent of the first half against Richmond when they struggled to adapt to the slippery conditions too. Fremantle led by six points at half-time that day and won by 10 goals. They needed a similar turnaround.

Fremantle’s intent was clear when Andrew Brayshaw won the first tough contest of the third term and then Jackson just belted it forward with successive kicks off the ground.

That set the tone. Fremantle kicked the first goal of the term through Dudley and the road map was clear.

Jackson and Brayshaw combined for the next centre clearance too and it wasn’t long before Amiss put the Dockers in front.

When another great effort from Serong got the ball going Fremantle’s way again, the Dockers swarmed on Collingwood’s defenders and forced a mistake which set up another Dudley goal.

Now Fremantle led by nine points. Treacy took his first contested mark and things were looking positive.

But Collingwood kept answering. They got down and dirty, led by debutant Angus Anderson and it was fitting that he kicked a goal to give the Magpies the reward they deserved.

The Dockers were defending for their lives. Jackson was huge. He laid the tackle that stopped Schultz from kicking a goal, then won a contested mark moments later that eased all of the pressure.

Heath Chapman won some massive contests but the weight of inside 50s eventually became too much and Jack Crisp put Collingwood back in front.

The rain was gone and the game was up for grabs.

Collingwood should have put them away. McStay, Schultz and Nick Daicos missed set shots they simply should have kicked.

But when Fremantle had the chance to do the same thing, they nailed their opportunities like good teams do.