Fremantle have closed the gap on West Coast financially after posting a record operating profit of $2.43m and revenue year turnover of $66.19m in 2022 on the back of record membership and a return to finals.

It is a significant result for the Dockers, who posted a profit of $1.55m in 2021 after running at a loss in both 2020 ($1.07m) and 2019 ($1.6m) due to the impact of COVID-19.

Their cash holdings has gone up from $3.8m to $7m.

Fremantle had a record membership of 56,105 last season as they returned to finals for the first time since 2015.

The Dockers are on track to top it in 2023, with 47,398 already signed up a month out from round one and have a goal of a membership base of 80,000 by 2025 as part of their strategic plan.

West Coast recorded a higher profit of $3.5m with but it slumped from $7.4m a year earlier on the back of just two wins, with the Dockers hot on their heels after paying $2.25m in royalties to the WA Football Commission.

The Dockers’ membership revenue went up from $16.7m to $18.2m and their match revenue nearly doubled from $4.2m to $8m.

Fremantle chief executive Simon Garlick said the profit was a combination of significant revenue growth, with record revenue years across several consumer and commercial departments, along with cost-cutting as the club came out of the pandemic.

He said the club’s 26 per cent revenue growth from $52.4m in 2021 surpassed pre-pandemic levels earlier than they forecast.

“This year we continued to enjoy incredible support from the Freo family,” Garlick said.

“The revenue growth and resulting profit has enabled us to continue to improve our financial position which will be critical for the club to achieve what we set out in our 2021-2025 Strategic Plan, including significant investment in our facilities, people and operations.”

The Dockers also had the fourth-highest average home crowd in 2022 of 40,460, up significantly on the 30,008 during the COVID-impacted 2019 season.

“It’s not lost on us how significant it is to finish fourth in attendance across the league when we cannot rely on opposition fan support to drive our numbers up like the Victorian clubs,” Garlick said.

Fremantle will also begin a $6m upgrade to their Cockburn facilities this year, which includes dedicated AFLW changerooms and facilities for the women’s team as well as other community football clubs.