Fremantle enters this AFL finals weekend as clearly the team under the most pressure.
The minor premiers won 19 games this season, comfortably finishing on top of the ladder and entering September as premiership favourites.
Justin Longmuir’s Dockers were thoroughly outplayed from the outset. AFL Photos
It loomed as arguably the club’s best chance in its 32-year history to win an inaugural flag.
And then it immediately went wrong. The Dockers fumbled their home qualifying final against Hawthorn, comfortably beaten on their home deck by 32 points.
Now, they will have to do it the hard way, and that starts with hosting Geelong at Optus Stadium on Friday night.
The Cats have been in strong form and were too good for Carlton in their elimination final clash. They are as experienced as any team in September and know how to win on the big stage, something Fremantle is yet to prove.
The Dockers were comprehensively beaten by Hawthorn, and lost a home final to Gold Coast in 2025.
A straight sets finals exit, and three finals losses in a row, would be a devastating blow for the club and coach Justin Longmuir, with his team’s last finals win coming in 2022.
Their season has mirrored Adelaide’s from 2025 as well. The Crows shot up the ladder to win 18 games and finished as minor premiers, before bowing out in straight sets in September, daunted by the stage.
A minor premier hasn’t actually won a final since Sydney in 2024, 720 days ago.
Inaugural Tassie Devils coach, and former Port Adelaide coach, Ken Hinkley, feels for Longmuir and knows what he is feeling.
In 2023, the Power finished third before getting blown out by Brisbane in a qualifying final. They followed that up with a home loss to GWS the next week, ending their season.
“(Longmuir) feels and looks a little bit similar to what I was like in 2023. We’d had this great journey, and we messed up bad in the first qualifying final and never quite recovered,” Hinkley told SEN on Wednesday.
“I hope for Justin’s sake that he finds the way to recover. I have real confidence in their team, and I’ve never seen them play as poor as they played last week.
“He’s just going to have to lean into, ‘we’ve only lost one game at home, we’re very, very strong here … almost unbeatable here. Our list is really, really healthy. Let’s just trust ourselves, and let’s back ourselves. I’m sure if we do that, we’ll come away with a win’.
“I think he’ll be leaning into all the positives, all the absolute positives, and he has every right to because their season was dominant.
“They finished on top with about a month to go, they couldn’t lose top spot.
Freo players leave the field dejected. AFL Photos
“He’ll lean into his belief in his players, and he’ll look for that to come back from them as well.”
Hinkley believes the onus is on Fremantle’s stars to bring energy and ensure the group isn’t worrying about what could go wrong.
“They’re lucky; they get redemption quickly. That’s what their opportunity is,” Hinkley said.
“If you finish a season (losing straight sets) like that, you go through the pre-season, and you’ve got to carry it for such a long time.
“Well, the boys for Fremantle, I’m sure they’d be champing at the bit to get going and have another go at it.
“Their better players will be up and about. I think their energy will be very, very high because they’ll know that last week was a blown chance, and they’ll make sure that they get a chance to rectify that.”
The winner of the Fremantle versus Geelong game will then head to Sydney to face the undermanned Swans for a spot in the grand final.