Fremantle didn’t need to beat Carlton at Marvel Stadium on Saturday and played accordingly.

The Blues had plenty of reasons to win, which included the possibility of avoiding an interstate Wildcard final, and their motivation was clear.

When one team is desperate to win, and the other has bigger fish to fry, games can follow a predictable script, and that’s what happened as the Blues won 18.11 (119) to 12.10 (82)

Fremantle set the tone on Thursday when they rested Jye Amiss, Sam Switkowski and Heath Chapman. If the game really mattered, they would definitely have played.

Murphy Reid was also given another week to recover from a blow to the groin, which was smart. Why take any risks?

But those moves meant Oscar McDonald was selected as a forward despite being in superb form as a defender.

Tobyn Murray made his AFL debut, and Bailey Banfield played his first game of the season. This wasn’t a normal-looking Fremantle team.

The players still entered the game wanting to prove a point. They were keen to avoid a defeat. But it wasn’t Fremantle’s priority. And it became even less of a priority when Brennan Cox injured his calf late in the first quarter.

At one point in the second term, as Carlton assumed total control of the game, Fremantle had Luke Jackson, Alex Pearce, Andrew Brayshaw and Shai Bolton on the bench. The Blues had 114 more disposals than Fremantle for the day.

Fremantle started the game with the right approach. They had a genuine crack early.

Jordan Clark stood under a high ball with Ollie Florent approaching and didn’t even flinch. Then he hit up McDonald on a hard lead moments later, and the Docker kicked truly.

When Bolton ran back with the flight of the ball to take another mark and kick Fremantle’s second goal, the visitors had the perfect start.

Their attitude was even more obvious when Caleb Serong didn’t even consider taking a difficult shot from the forward pocket, preferring to centre the ball instead and Josh Treacy slammed through their third.

And when Pat Voss converted a set shot moments later, the Dockers had four goals from four inside 50s and the game had been going for only 12 minutes.

The problem was, they kicked only two more goals for the first half, and Carlton piled on eight.

The quarter-time stats showed that the game wasn’t being played at the normal type of intensity. Fremantle had nine inside 50s for seven scores, and Carlton went forward 10 times for nine shots.

It looked even worse for the Dockers at half-time. The Blues had 63 more disposals as the teams went to the rooms at the long break. The uncontested possessions were 137-84.

The reward for a Carlton victory was the chance to stay in Victoria next week and play Collingwood instead of travelling to South Australia to play Adelaide.

As we saw on Friday night when Brisbane had the motivation to increase their percentage and rise to third spot while Collingwood lacked any rewards, the game is played above the shoulders.

Nothing summed up Carlton’s attitude more than Ollie Hollands chasing down Pat Voss in the goal square shortly before half-time. The ball hung in the air forever as Voss stood alone in attack, but nobody would have expected Hollands could catch him.

He caught him, won the free kick, three teammates converged to add even more power and celebration to the moment and the home crowd went wild.

The Dockers only trailed by 11 points at half-time, but it felt like more.

All eyes were on Fremantle to start the third term to see how they’d approach the restart. Carlton made errors in the middle of the ground, but the Dockers didn’t make them pay, and the Blues turned mistakes into a goal. That was a bad sign.

Then the Dockers left Jagga Smith alone at a stoppage inside 50, and he made them pay with another goal. Now the margin was 23 points.

Fremantle lifted briefly, and Voss gave them energy with a big goal celebration. But Fremantle stuck to their pre-game plans to look after players.

Patty Cripps sold the dummy to Brayshaw and pumped the ball forward where Harry McKay outmarked Luke Ryan. Why was Ryan playing on McKay? Because Pearce was on the bench - sitting alongside Hayden Young, Serong and Jackson.

But even when Fremantle’s stars were on the field, they still weren’t at the normal level. Serong, Brayshaw and Bolton would have been desperate to win the centre clearance after Treacy kicked a goal. But the Blues won the footy, and Cripps slammed through the goal.

And if you needed any more proof that this game meant more to Carlton, Voss got run down again, and the Blues swarmed for a second time.

Fremantle have stormed home in plenty of games this season, and when Jackson kicked the opening goal of the final term, they were only 16 points down and close enough to still win.

But Carlton refused to let that happen and pulled clear again. And then they rammed home the point by kicking six goals in the final quarter.

The Dockers won’t be happy with what they dished up. It was their biggest defeat of the season, and that will sit in their stomach for a fortnight ahead of the qualifying final.

But we all know the reality.. Fremantle have bigger fish to fry, and Carlton are still playing for their lives.