Fremantle are awaiting a response from the AFL after being left furious over nine seconds which disappeared from the clock in the final minute of their harrowing one-point Anzac Day loss to Geelong.

Trailing by slightest of margins with 16 seconds remaining, Geelong's Joel Selwood kicked out of bounds on the full to give the Dockers one last chance to produce the shock of the year.

After Ryan Murphy took the free kick quickly, officials called the play back so the correct man Byron Schammer could restart play.

But in that time nine seconds ticked off the clock before time on was called - time which was never replaced.

With Schammer's long kick marked by Geelong's Harry Taylor, the siren sounded almost immediately - leaving Dockers coach Mark Harvey furious, and Cats' counterpart Mark Thompson relieved.

"There are areas of the game that I am angry about and so is the club. I will wait on the AFL response to that (timekeeping), because we were just outside our forward 50m," Harvey said.

"I'll wait on the AFL response to that, and I will find out more about that (complaint) process over the next 24 hours.

"I think everyone knows about it (the missing time). As I said I'll await their (the AFL's) response."

After admitting his side had been lucky to win, Thompson also revealed he was aware of the missing seconds - and was not about to correct the apparent error.

"I would be lying if I said no because we have a countdown clock there. I wasn't about to run out and tell the umpire," Harvey said.

In one of the best performances and worst finishes in their history, the Dockers twice seemed to hold match-winning leads against the reigning premiers only to see them whittled back.

And even without the case of the missing seconds, Shaun McManus and Matthew Pavlich both had clear chances to kick the winning goal - with the skipper's effort with less than a minute remaining bouncing agonisingly off the inside of a post.

"We had that angle from the coach's box and, yeah, it just looked like it was home," Harvey said.

"There was a bit of lifting up off the chairs in the box and then all of a sudden it hit the post."

With Pavlich's five goals underlining his class, giant ruckman Aaron Sandilands chose the biggest test to produce his best AFL game, amassing an incredible 42 hit outs, 10 clearances, 24 possessions and a goal.

Harvey was unequivocal in his assessment.

"Sandilands played the best game he has for this footy club. He gave the team an enormous sense of combatant direction we needed," Harvey said

And with young guns Rhys Palmer and Garrick Ibbotson again showing their worth, Harvey was again encouraged despite slipping further off the pace with a 1-5 record.

"I wouldn't say it's heartbreaking, I would say it's very encouraging to know that if you play to that standard regularly that's how far away you are from the premiership team," Harvey said.

Roger Hayden (thigh), Steven Dodd (knee) and Antoni Grover (thigh) are in doubt for next Sunday's must-win clash against Melbourne, while Josh Carr will have the familiar worry of a possible suspension after being reported for kneeing Geelong star Gary Ablett.

AFL spokesman Patrick Keane admitted there was an error from the timekeepers, listed by the AFL as Barry Kember and Don Jensen, and their performance would be assessed early next week.

"(It was) a timekeeper's error. If it was not a legitimate kick the clock should have stopped but we ran down seven or eight seconds we should not have run down," Keane told SEN radio.

"It is not something they do not do deliberately, it was an error.

"In this case they were disappointed, and we will assess on Monday who will timekeep next week's matches.

"Either they will or they won't, but if they do miss a game or two that would be the most of it."

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