AFL grand final: Fremantle faithful to pour into port city to watch Dockers’ decider against the Brisbane Lions

Up to 40,000 football fans are tipped to pour into Fremantle to watch the Dockers’ second tilt at a maiden premiership on Saturday.

The purple army flooded the historic port city’s Cappuccino Strip on South Tce after Fremantle’s stunning preliminary final comeback against Sydney, and this weekend — with a clash against back-to-back champions Brisbane — is set to be even bigger.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Fremantle erupts as Dockers head to grand final

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The local council is anticipating huge numbers and has reacted by adding more big screen sites for fans to watch the game in the city centre, while some roads will be shut from midday on Friday to keep cars away from the surge in foot traffic.

It is predicted to be Fremantle’s biggest event since the America’s Cup in the 1980s and, should captain Alex Pearce and coach Justin Longmuir hold the cup aloft at the end of four quarters, trigger similar celebrations.

“The marketing value of this for Fremantle as a city — you couldn’t pay for it,” deputy mayor Fedele Camarda said.

The free live sites open in Fremantle from 8am to 6pm include the Cappuccino Strip, Esplanade Reserve, Walyalup Koort and the corner of Market and High streets, by The National Hotel.

These watch zones are on top of the ticketed events being held at hospitality venues across Fremantle, many of which have been sold out for weeks thanks to the Dockers’ run to the minor premiership and dreams of a first win on the day that counts.

Fremantle Oval — where the Dockers were originally based — added more capacity for its viewing party, with those extra tickets snapped up quickly.

Outside of Fremantle, there will be watch parties at Northbridge Piazza, Yagan Square and outside Optus Stadium.

Public transport across Transperth’s network will be free on Saturday, to encourage people to attend grand final parties and events across the city.

“We want people to have a great time but we also have to make sure we can get people in and out in a safe way,” WA Transport Minister Rita Saffioti said.

WA’s top cop Col Blanch said there will be a “strong police presence, particularly in Fremantle” on Saturday.

“In a large event like this where we have large amounts of people, we’ll have our horses, we’ll have our regional operations group — so we’ll have specialist police with longarms (firearms), we’ll have wand-scanning for weapons, and we’ll have our general duties police,” Blanch said.

“We even might have a few booze buses out and about as well.”

Fremantle’s open training session at Cockburn on Wednesday sold out in just seven minutes, with more than 3000 people to attend.

The Dockers will fly to Melbourne on Thursday.

Saturday also signals the opening of the Perth Royal Show, which draws thousands onto the Fremantle train line every year.

“I always find that those people that don’t like footy, they go to the Royal Show on Saturday because it’s normally pretty empty,” Saffioti said.

“So I think there’ll be a lot of activity.”