Two of the least fathomable AFL sides of 2008 turned on a spectacle as topsy-turvy as their reputations suggested at AAMI Stadium.

Fremantle made light of the last-minute withdrawal of captain Matthew Pavlich to defeat a far from switched on Port Adelaide by 28 points.

There was an end of season feel about an encounter that saw little defensive pressure at times, the Dockers starting stronger then standing up to numerous fightbacks to win 20.9 (129) to 15.11 (101).

Dockers rover Rhys Palmer was again outstanding, while teammates Byron Schammer, Aaron Sandilands and supposed Power recruiting target Josh Carr were all influential.

Up forward it was an ensemble effort by the visitors, as 16 players made it onto the scoresheet to cover for the loss of Pavlich (jarred knee), leaving coach Mark Harvey with food for thought.

"What it tells me a little bit as a coach is that a lot of planning is done around Matthew, and sometimes you've got to be able to hide things that you do and perhaps Matthew might see himself playing in different situations for Fremantle in the near future," Harvey said.

"(Pavlich) has got a jarred knee and it's quite sore to the extent he can't play. He'll possibly get up next week."

Port's most wholehearted efforts came from Kane Cornes and Dom Cassisi, while Justin Westhoff and Warren Tredrea both notched four goals.

Tredrea (shoulder), Steve Salopek (Achilles) and Troy Chaplin (ankle) are all likely to miss at least one game each due to injuries.

Power coach Mark Williams was left clueless as to why his men could perform so strongly in a showdown and then fail to turn up the next week.

"Obviously they wanted that win more than us, I'm not exactly sure why," he said.

"I thought we gave our players a bit of opportunity to show something so they could stamp their name and position for next year, but certainly there's a lot of undecided positions following today's result."

A pre-match gasp went around the ground at the news that Pavlich would not be playing, his place taken by Palmer, who had recovered from a knee complaint.

But any thoughts the Dockers would be thrown off balance by the change were quickly dispelled as it became clear they were far more prepared for a contest.

Luke McPharlin provided a target up forward, Palmer and Schammer ran well through the middle and Carr provided plenty of niggle, allowing Fremantle to leap to a 36-point break.

Port's quarter was their first goalless opening stanza since round three of last year.

Against an opponent as changeable as the Dockers, the Power had every chance of battling back in the second.

Able to isolate Tredrea and Westhoff up forward, Port's midfielders won more of the ball, while Michael Pettigrew provided brilliant drive from half back to cut the halftime margin to 13.

The Power ebbed again in the third, a burst of Fremantle goals in the latter part erasing their effort to briefly take the lead.

Fremantle's attack was as free-spirited as Port's defence was questionable, youngsters Josh Head and Garrick Ibbotson both nailing shots on the run to help push the lead out to 27 points at the last change.

They would extend that by a point by the finish, straight kicking (5.0 for the term) allowing the Dockers to go into their local Derby versus West Coast next week with plenty of momentum.

Pavlich had an unbroken streak of 160 games since 2001 prior to Sunday's game.

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