Devastated coach Justin Longmuir was left with a hollow feeling after Fremantle’s agonising one-point elimination final loss to Gold Coast, believing his side had more to give in 2025.

Longmuir, who was coaching his third final at the Dockers, said the exits of retiring champions Michael Walters and Nat Fyfe added more emotion to the sudden end to a promising season in which his side won 16 home and away games.

“It’s devastating,” Longmuir said. “I think whenever you finish the season, there’s no pleasant way to go out, unless you win it.

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“The players are hurting.

“The game is a game, but it was bigger than that after the game because of the calibre of people that are leaving.”

Longmuir bemoaned a second quarter blitz from the Suns in which they kicked seven goals but was proud of the way his players fought back from a 26-point deficit.

“We were in front with three minutes to go,” Longmuir said.

“Like we’ve done all year, we’ve embraced every challenge, we’ve fought our way back. And yeah, we did that again tonight.”

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Longmuir said there were a few moments in the final two minutes that cost them the game, including Mac Andrew getting free inside 50m to level the game.

“I don’t think it was structure or not executing, it’s you lose two contests, and then (Brennan) Cox goes to lay a good tackle, and the ball gets knocked out, and he holds on too long.”

Longmuir was adamant his side could have done more damage in September, saying the evenness of the top nine sides this season was on show again.

“If we had held on, they (Gold Coast) would have said the same thing,” Longmuir said. “I think they’re two pretty similar lists. Played a pretty similar brand of footy the two teams tonight, and we got a pretty even game.

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“So it feels really hollow at the moment, but once over the next couple of days, we sort of review it, there’ll be a lot of positives that come out of it.

“There’s some things we need to improve in the way we play. I won’t go into that right now, but we’ve got a lot of natural development in our group still.

“All our core players are still reasonably young and have improvement left in their careers.

“We’re not that far off either, and it’s disappointing because it felt like we had a lot more to give in this season.

“I think our footy over the last three four months stacks up against any team. That’s what’s disappointing about exiting the way we’ve exited.”