Fremantle defender Nick Suban suffered a suspected broken leg as the Dockers continued their bright start to the season with a 29-point AFL win over the Kangaroos at Patersons Stadium on Sunday.

Suban was taken straight to hospital for X-rays after his right leg twisted awkwardly underneath the body of teammate Ryan Crowley early in the third quarter.

The initial prognosis was a broken fibula, although Fremantle coach Mark Harvey said the exact nature of the break would be determined after more scans.

"Let's hope it is (only a two or three-month injury)," Harvey said after the 18.19 (127) to 14.14 (98) triumph.

"Mentally he can deal with it and we need him back as soon as he's ready."

Suban's setback continued a horror run of injuries for the Dockers, who have already lost Anthony Morabito for the season and are still waiting on Roger Hayden (foot), Tendai Mzungu (knee), Alex Silvagni (stomach virus) and Michael Barlow (leg) to return.

The Dockers led North Melbourne by just eight points heading into time on in the third quarter.

But Fremantle broke the game apart with eight of the next 10 goals, with the club's third win of the year lifting them into fourth spot on the table.

The Kangaroos are winless after three outings but coach Brad Scott scoffed at talk the year was already slipping away ahead of home games against Richmond and Port Adelaide.

"Absolutely (the season is still alive)," Scott said.

"I'm not into (labelling any game) season-defining at round four.

"I mean we've played three games.

"We've been to Perth for two of those three and could have easily have come away with two wins from those games.

"I look back to 12 months ago to the corresponding game over here in Perth against Fremantle (a 61-point loss) and we were totally outclassed and outworked. I can't say that was the case today.

"We were outclassed in terms of clean hands and clean ball movement, but we weren't outworked. So that's a massive improvement."

Hayden Ballantyne (25 possessions, four goals) was at his niggling and electric best for the Dockers, while Matthew Pavlich (34 possessions), Nat Fyfe and David Mundy starred through the midfield.

A sore Stephen Hill, who battled what appeared to be a niggling hip complaint throughout the match and also copped a knock to his knee, finished with 14 possessions, two goals and five score assists opposed to tagger Brady Rawlings (eight disposals).

Daniel Wells (26 disposals, two goals), Brent Harvey (two goals), Andrew Swallow (31 disposals) and Leigh Adams battled hard for the Kangaroos.

But Lachie Hansen, who along with Sam Wright was singled out for not pulling his weight by Harvey after North Melbourne's 87-point loss to Collingwood in round two, failed to fire once again, finishing with just eight possessions and a late goal when the match was dead.

Harvey, after watching Hill cop a heavy headbutt to his knee from a ducking Liam Anthony, said players needed to be more careful about ducking their head in a tackle.

"I just think we've got to be careful of it and aware of it and perhaps educate players about it," Harvey said.

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