The GIANTS may not have taken the points but they fought until the very end to go down to ladder leaders Fremantle.

Fremantle has moved a step closer to sealing top spot after a hard-fought 21-point win over Greater Western Sydney at Domain Stadium on Sunday.

The Dockers looked on track for a comfortable victory, but were forced to hold off a spirited GIANTS fightback before sealing the 12.12 (84) to 9.9 (63) result.

But the win could come at a cost with Zac Dawson, who was playing his first match of the season, certain to come under heavy scrutiny from the Match Review Panel after an off-the-ball elbow that left Jeremy Cameron with a bloodied face.

Dawson wasn't facing Cameron when he swung his right elbow back, but the incident still looked ugly enough to warrant closer attention.

Cameron required extensive bandaging around his head to stem the bleeding, and he gave Dawson a big spray when he returned to the field for the start of the second quarter.

The 22-year-old's nose bled throughout the match, and he finished with just two goals.

"I thought he was terrific," GIANTS coach Leon Cameron said.

"It's easy to go back into your shell when you've copped one in the beak

"It is very hard to find space against Fremantle's back six, their whole team. I think we only had it in there 30 times and Jeremy looked dangerous every time it went in there.

"He hung in there, he hung in there, he presented all the time."

Dockers goalsneak Michael Walters booted four goals, while Aaron Sandilands was a force in the ruck.

Fremantle dominated most of the key stats throughout the contest, but its sloppy execution kept GWS in the contest until midway through the third quarter.

"I thought we were up-tempo, created plenty of opportunities but I thought our polish and skill level wasn't where we needed to be," Dockers coach Ross Lyon said.

"So we need to keep working on that. There's a bit of time still but I thought it was more convincing than the scoreboard (suggested)."

Danyle Pearce, Hayden Crozier, Michael Barlow, and Chris Mayne all missed easy goals in the first half, while defender-cum-forward Alex Pearce didn't make the distance on two occasions from 45m out.

The GIANTS started the third term full of run, and a boilover loomed after they closed the margin to just 12 points.

But an umpiring howler halted GWS in its tracks.

The GIANTS should have been awarded a free kick in their defensive half when the ball bounced off Docker Alex Pearce's foot and went out of bounds on the full.

But the boundary umpire instead awarded the free kick to Fremantle, with the home side scoring a goal from their foray forward.

The Dockers added another two unanswered goals to open up a 33-point lead by the final break, with GWS unable to reel in the deficit.

The result all but guarantees Fremantle a top-two berth, with the ladder-leading Dockers now three wins clear of third spot.

GWS remains half a win adrift of eighth spot ahead of next week's home match against struggling Essendon.

The GIANTS lost Matt Buntine to concussion in the second term, while ruckman Tom Downie was forced off with illness in the third quarter.

Tempers threatened to boil over early in the final quarter when a number of players were involved in a wrestle.

Cameron was in the thick of the action, with the melee leaving him with blood all over his face yet again.

FREMANTLE                                      4.2   6.8    10.11   12.12   (84)                  
GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY        1.2   2.6     5.8      9.9       (63)          

GOALS

Fremantle: Walters 4, Pavlich 2, Mayne 2, Mundy, D. Pearce, A. Pearce, Griffin
Greater Western Sydney: Cameron 2, Coniglio, Wilson, Scully, Lamb, Hoskin-Elliott, Griffen, Lobb

BEST 

Fremantle: Hill, Walters, Sandilands, Mundy, Neale, D. Pearce
Greater Western Sydney: Coniglio, Treloar, Greene, Shaw, Cameron

INJURIES 

Fremantle: Mayne (ankle)
Greater Western Sydney: Buntine (concussion)

SUBSTITUTES

Fremantle: Lachie Weller replaced Alex Pearce in the fourth quarter
Greater Western Sydney: Jack Steele replaced Matt Buntine in the second quarter

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Farmer, Nicholls, Mitchell

Official crowd: 34,626 at Domain Stadium