Longmuir Plays It Cool But Freo’s Flag Window Is Wide Open
Justin Longmuir reckons his Dockers aren’t thinking about premierships, just about Hawthorn on the weekend. Yeah, righto Justin. Over here in the west we’ve heard that line before and we know exactly what it means – it means everyone in that building knows precisely what’s on the line and they’re just not silly enough to say it out loud.
I’ll admit it feels strange writing nice things about the Dockers in this column, given I bleed blue and gold and my old man would spin in his recliner if he heard me being generous to the Freo faithful. But fair’s fair – this Fremantle side is three wins from something no one at that club has ever done, and pretending that’s not rattling round in the back of every player’s head is just coach-speak 101.
Longmuir’s Doing What Every Good Coach Does
Look, I get why Longmuir’s playing it dead straight. The minute you start talking premiership windows and history-making seasons, you’ve handed the opposition a headline and given your own blokes something to choke on. Every finals coach in the competition does the same dance. Clarko did it at the Hawks for years, Sicily’s mob will be doing it this week too, no doubt trying to sound just as unbothered.
But let’s not kid ourselves about what’s actually happening here. Fremantle is genuinely in the box seat to go deep into September, and blokes like Nat Fyfe – if he’s up and about – and the engine room they’ve built through the midfield brigade know it. You don’t get to this pointy end of the year without every single player doing the sums on what a flag would mean for a club that’s never tasted one.
The Hawthorn Test Is a Proper One
This isn’t some finals speed hump either. Hawthorn have been the form side of the competition for a good chunk of the back half of the year, and Sam Mitchell’s got them playing a brand that causes headaches for even the best defensive units going around. They move the ball with real zip, they’ve got youngsters running off half back who look like they’ve been doing it for a decade, and if Freo think this is a gentle entree into finals footy they’re kidding themselves.
For Fremantle, the contest up forward and through the midfield will decide plenty. If their taggers can nullify Hawthorn’s most dangerous ball users and the Dockers can win enough of the clearances, they’ve got the sort of side that can grind out four-quarter performances. But Hawthorn under Mitchell don’t panic, and they’ve shown all year they can claw back leads that looked done and dusted.
Why Freo Actually Believe This Is Their Time
There’s a genuine feeling around the WA footy public that this Dockers group is different to previous vintages, and you’d have to be pretty blinkered not to see why. They’ve got experience through the middle, they’ve developed some proper stars, and unlike some finals campaigns of the past they’re not relying on one or two players to be superhuman every single week.
You could argue – and plenty of Freo diehards absolutely will – that this list has been building toward exactly this moment for a couple of seasons now. The kids who were finding their feet a few years back are now legitimate difference-makers, and that maturity shows up in the tight moments, the ones that decide finals when the margins get squeezed right down to nothing.
The Travel Factor Nobody East Coast Ever Mentions
Now here’s where I’ll have my little whinge, because someone’s got to say it. If Fremantle do go all the way, spare a thought for what it actually takes to get there from over here in the west. While the Victorian sides are hopping on a bus for forty minutes to get to the MCG, our clubs are clocking up more frequent flyer points than a mining exec, criss-crossing the country every second week just to be competitive.
It’s the same grumble West Coast fans have made for years and I make no apologies for making it again – the fixture and the finals system still favour clubs who can sleep in their own beds most weekends. If Freo manage to win a flag playing home finals then travelling east for a decider, that achievement deserves even more respect than it’ll probably get from the commentators over east who barely notice WA footy exists until September rolls around.
What This Means for the Rest of the Competition
The uncomfortable truth for every other flag fancy, my own beloved Eagles included in some future life, is that a settled, experienced Fremantle outfit playing finals footy with nothing to lose is a genuinely scary proposition. Teams that go in relaxed, backing their structures rather than searching for miracle moments, tend to be the ones that string together the four wins needed in October.
Longmuir’s downplaying it because that’s exactly what you do with a group this close to something special – you don’t want blokes tightening up, overthinking every disposal, playing like they’re protecting something rather than chasing it. Smart coaching, plain and simple, even if it’s coming from the enemy camp.
The Bottom Line
Whatever Longmuir says publically, nobody in that Fremantle change room is walking around oblivious to the history sitting right in front of them. Three wins from a maiden flag is the sort of carrot that doesn’t need spelling out, and the players will know it every time they lace the boots up between now and the last Saturday in September.
Hawthorn will provide about as stern a test as you’ll find this time of year, and how Fremantle handle that pressure will tell us plenty about whether this really is their September. As a proud West Coast man I’m contractually obliged to want it to go pear-shaped for them, but credit where it’s due – this Dockers side looks the goods, and pretending otherwise would just be silly.
