Arabic version: مشجعو فريمانتل يقودون عبر نولاربور لحضور نهائي دوري كرة القدم الأسترالية

According to ABC News, thousands of Fremantle Dockers supporters are travelling more than 3,000 kilometres across the Nullarbor to attend Saturday’s AFL grand final in Melbourne. Fremantle will face the Brisbane Lions as it seeks its first AFL premiership.

Fans have chosen the road journey from Perth despite high fuel prices and increased airfares. Government-run FuelWatch listed diesel at $3.22 a litre in Eucla on Tuesday, compared with Perth’s cheapest diesel price of $2.59 a litre. A group of about a dozen supporters left Perth on Monday night aboard a large purple bus known as “The Longmuir Coach”.

Former Fremantle player Hayden Ballantyne, who played in the club’s only previous grand final in 2013, was travelling with the group. He said the trip was his first time driving the Nullarbor and described the grand final as a different experience as a supporter.

Retired Wheatbelt farmer Noel Stone is making the journey carrying ashes of his late nephew Cameron, a Fremantle supporter nicknamed Docker. Stone said his nephew, who died in a car accident in 2015, would have loved to see the club play in a grand final at the MCG.

Other fans, including Natasha and Troy Cornish and their son Jayden, are driving from Canning Vale without tickets, hoping to secure entry on Saturday or otherwise watch from Federation Square. Police have increased patrols on the 710-kilometre Eyre Highway stretch between Norseman and Eucla, urging motorists to manage speed and fatigue and plan their trips safely.