Shaun McManus gave Fremantle his heart and soul during his 14-year stint at the club so it was only fair the retiring great got to ask his teammates for a special performance in his final AFL outing.

McManus' mates duly obliged, unleashing a scintillating nine-goal-to-four opening term blitz to set up the Dockers' 33-point western derby victory over West Coast in front of 42,096 fans at Subiaco Oval.

"It's a fairytale," McManus said after the match.

"Earlier on in the week I asked the boys for a special effort for me today and they came through, they really did come through.

"Sometimes these things go the reverse of what you want them to so I was just hoping the player group would be focused.

"I didn't want them to go over the top. They were cool, calm and collected and in the first quarter Pav (Matthew Pavlich) and Luke McPharlin just unloaded (with three goals each) and made my day a lot easier."

McPharlin finished the match with five goals while Pavlich collected 22 possessions, nine inside 50s and four goals to take home the Ross Glendinning Medal as best afield.

But the pair received plenty of help, with Josh Carr, Byron Schammer, David Mundy, Rhys Palmer, Aaron Sandilands and Jeff Farmer playing crucial roles in the 17.14 (116) to 12.11 (83) win - Fremantle's third on the trot.

Even McManus got in on the act, snaring 21 possessions and 10 marks in his 228th and final outing.

Fremantle coach Mark Harvey admitted he was nervous before the match that his charges might not be able to handle the emotion surrounding McManus' sendoff.

He needn't have worried.

"Milestones and last games, I haven't got the stats on them, but they can certainly go either way because of the fact you've got a lot of things to lose and the opposition prey on it," Harvey said.

"Sometimes your players can go over the top.

"It's a day the Fremantle football club will never forget... it's very important you send off your players in the right manner and we did that today."

McManus did a lap of honour after the match before being chaired off the field by Pavlich and Ryan Crowley.

"It meant the world to me (to be able to say goodbye to the fans)," McManus said.

"They have been terrific, they supported me through thick and thin."

As for the future of the No. 8 guernsey at Fremantle?

"Probably retire it for life I would have thought ... or a week," McManus said with a laugh.

West Coast coach John Worsfold paid tribute to the way McManus forged a successful career after two early knee reconstructions threatened to derail it.

"I was one of the people that when he hurt his knee for the second time thought that was going to curtail his career," Worsfold said.

"To see him out there today is an amazing effort of what he's done and how he's gone about it."

Mark LeCras (four goals), Ben McKinley (two goals, 18 touches) and Steven Armstrong (24 possessions) tried valiantly to lift the Eagles after Fremantle's first-term onslaught but with the Dockers dominating the clearances (36-23) and pumping the ball inside 50 on 12 more occasions for the match, the result was never in doubt.

It was Fremantle's fifth win in their past six clashes against the Eagles, although West Coast still lead the head-to-head tally 18-10.

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