Fremantle veteran Luke Ryan relishing derby date with ‘intimidating’ West Coast fans

They may feel like the away team on their home ground, but veteran Fremantle defender Luke Ryan says they will relish taking on a West Coast Eagles crowd in this weekend’s western derby.

The first derby of 2026 is set to captivate the state on Sunday, and the 62nd meeting between the two cross-town rivals is rich with storylines and narratives.

On one side is a red-hot Fremantle team who have won four of their opening five games this season to sit second on the ladder as they look to frank their simmering premiership credentials with a statement win.

Across from them lie an upstart West Coast side who have already doubled the number of wins they enjoyed last season and are desperate to claim another scalp in their rebuild in the form of a derby ambush.

This weekend’s match at Optus Stadium is expected to draw in excess of 50,000 and will be an Eagles home game, meaning the stands will be lined with more blue and gold than purple.

But Ryan, who will play in his 16th derby if named in the Dockers’ side, said he welcomed the cauldron-like atmosphere and even gave the West Coast fans a shout-out.

“Trying to play good in front of their fans and beating them is probably the best thing, I reckon. It’s a good rivalry, it’s good fun,” he said.

“It’s pretty intimidating. They’re pretty good fans, aren’t they? They get into you, but all of us love it, because we would probably do the same thing to them.

“I love playing in these games. They go up a notch. No matter where you on the ladder. It’s always gonna be a solid game. So we’re pumped for it, we’re looking forward to it.”

Ryan said Fremantle’s strong start to the year was a by-product of them handling every situation well, allowing them to succeed in close games (they have won their past two games by a combined eight points) and it would be similarly beneficial come the derby.

“We’ve played a lot more footy together now. We had a few close games last year where we won. We beat Collingwood at the (MCG) last year and it was a close game,” he said.

“Obviously Gold Coast in finals wasn’t our best, but we took some lessons out of that. Credit to the coaching staff, they came to us, and got the older players to talk about what we should change, or what we want to improve on.

“Through the pre-season, we trained that a fair bit. I think it might have been two weeks ago or a week ago, we actually trained at the end of training close game scenario.

“We’re always looking a way to improve. We didn’t get it all right in the weekend, but we got a fair bit of it right.”

To mark the derby, Optus Stadium will be selling a one-off crispy coconut fried wagyu brisket with pickled carrot, coleslaw with a rendang mayonnaise.