Fremantle coach Mark Harvey says his team's ability to remain calm after being on the receiving end of a first-quarter towelling from Melbourne was the key to the Dockers' 46-point victory at Subiaco Oval.

Fremantle were staring down the barrel of their 14th loss of the season when they trailed Melbourne by 34 points early in the second quarter.

But after failing to kick a goal in the first 40 minutes of the match, the Dockers launched a scoring spree that left Melbourne dead in their tracks.

Led by a best afield performance from captain Matthew Pavlich, Fremantle piled on 13 of the next 14 goals to seal the 16.18 (114) to 10.8 (68) win - a victory that lifts the Dockers a game and percentage clear of bottom spot.

"We were on the back foot from the start but it's good to see that we can show initiative and get ourselves out of that situation," Harvey said.

"To be five goals down and show some initiative and not panic - on the back of some recent history - was good.

"We just had to get a couple of things right from a structure point of view around stoppages."

Pavlich was the hero with five goals, 28 possessions, five clearances and five score assists, but he had plenty of help.

The likes of Byron Schammer, Brock O'Brien, Chris Mayne, Garrick Ibbotson, Josh Head, Shaun McManus, Antoni Grover and Michael Johnson were also crucial in the turnaround, while Aaron Sandilands' dominant tap work ensured Fremantle won the crucial clearance battle.

Melbourne had few winners across the park, although Chris Johnson, Paul Wheatley and Cameron Bruce found plenty of the ball after Aaron Davey and Cale Morton impressed early.

With just six rounds of football remaining, West Coast and Melbourne have been left to prop up the table with just two wins apiece.

It is a situation that does not bode well for Melbourne coach Dean Bailey.

"Yeah I'm concerned, I don't want to finish last," Bailey said.

"We are in it to win it, we are not in it to finish last."

Bailey admitted his team was blown off the park after quarter time.

"We moved the ball well in the first quarter and in the second and third quarters we just turned it over," Bailey said.

"We couldn't get the ball out of our back 50, we couldn't get into our forward line and we turned it over and they scored on us.

"To Fremantle's credit they pressured us into mistakes. We let ourselves down with our decision making."

Pavlich's latest haul took his goal tally to 59 this season and Harvey made the most of the opportunity to hit back at Pavlich's critics.

"He's done that all year and for all the guys that wanted to knock him eight weeks ago - sometimes you need to come out the other side and say I was wrong," Harvey said.

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