Fremantle are on top of their game on the field and their fans are matching the energy with a cheeky banner that featured a message for The West Australian.

The Dockers were hosting arch-rivals West Coast in western derby 59 at Optus Stadium under the Saturday night lights, but they fired the first shot at the paper through thier banner.

Fremantle ran out first throught thier banner which read: “It’s RAC derby maintain the rage to fight for a spot on back page”.

It comes as they look to rebound from a disasterous derby earlier this year when they were stunned by the Eagles in a 37-point defeat.

West Coast kept their banner more low key preferring to celebrate the milestones of Jake “The Snake” Waterman and Tom Barrass who are playing their 100th and 150th games respectively.

The Eagles’ banner read: “One fifty for Tom and one hundred for Jake, crack in this RAC derby for TB and Snake”.

Both sides head into the game with a few changes. The Dockers are without captain Alex Pearce (broken arm) and small forward Michael Walters (hamstring), with Josh Draper and Tom Emmett coming into the team.

The Eagles dropped Campbell Chesser and Jamaine Jones, while Alex Witherden was axed before he picked up a hip injury.

Waterman and Elliot Yeo returned from injury, while Jack Darling returns for his first game since round 17.

Speedster Jack Petruccelle got a reprieve after initially being dropped but Jeremy McGovern failed a fitness test on Friday and will miss a third-consecutive game with a rib and lung injury.