The Fremantle Dockers were one of the last teams (excluding the two franchises added in the last four years) never to appear in the Grand Final before 2013, when their defensive prowess under coach Ross Lyon got them there, where they were overwhelmed by the Hawthorn Hawks, losing 77-62 after coming back from five goals down in the first half. In 2014, they fought their way back into another top four position entering finals, but were knocked off by Port Adelaide in the second round. In 2015, they were minor premiers (best record in the league, 17-5) but lost to three-time champion Hawthorn at home to miss out.
While known for their stifling defense, the Dockers are loaded with star players as well - Hayden Ballentine, Matthew Pavlich, and AFLPA player of the year Nat Fyfe lead a potent offense that should have the Dockers in the playoffs for several more years to come.
Should.
When the 2016 started, nobody told the Dockers. They went 0-10 before they finally beat another bottom feeder for their first win. By then, they were completely out of the running, and being questioned about possible tanking allegations. (If they were tanking, they screwed it up when they won four of their last twelve and finished third from the bottom.)
Their American counterpart: The Kansas City Royals
Coming off two consecutive American League pennants and a World Series ring in 2015, the Royals also smelled like new money. KC, like Fremantle, was hardly royalty within their sport, but they'd finally put together a team that looked like it would stay up on or near the top for years with their distinctive style of baseball.
Looked like.
Instead, they went 81-81 in 2016, and while they technically could have made the playoffs with the expanded wild card even into mid-September, they were never really a threat to the now-better teams in the AL. What happened? Hard to say. It wasn't as dramatic a fall from grace as Fremantle's - to be brutally honest, there's no comparison to the first-to-sixteenth drop the Dockers made this year in ANY sport of my knowledge! - but it felt very similar.
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