![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776909012_441_poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d be lying if I didn\u2019t say f\u2014k he\u2019s going to kick 10!\u201d he laughed when asked about Gunston\u2019s efforts.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to not think like that \u2013 but I trust our boys.<\/p>\n
\u201cLuke Ryan and Brennan Cox are two of our best key defenders. When they are not getting a chance to put a hand on him, you know things are breaking down upfield.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jack Gunston had five goals to half time.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Longmuir echoed those thoughts when speaking post-match, but was happy to hold Gunston to just one goal in the second half.<\/p>\n
\u201cStephen Silvagni probably couldn\u2019t stop him in the first half with the way we were letting them transition the ball,\u201d he shared.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard for a back man isolated like they do with Gunston.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s impossible to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n
But a midfield shift in the second half put the clamps on Gunston \u2013 and Hawthorn.<\/p>\n
The visitors managed just two goals after half time as Freo kicked into high gear.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the middle of the third quarter it was something like 28 inside 50s to six at one stage,\u201d Longmuir said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt took a while for the dam wall to break.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce we get that field position, we\u2019re a hard team to stop.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just needed that one goal to get the crowd excited. We thought that if we get that one goal, the dam wall would break with the amount of field position we were having.<\/p>\n
\u201cIncredibly proud of the players which I have just told them. To have four games in 18 days or whatever we did back-to-back-to-back six days break, didn\u2019t hear any players whinging about it, talking about how sore they were \u2013 they just got to work.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t look like the tiredest team out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Staring down a 21-point deficit when Gunston kicked his sixth goal in the final term, the Dockers rallied with a five-goal blitz in the space of just 11 minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just relief,\u201d Clark said of his immediate thoughts post-match.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe adrenaline, the heart\u2019s pumping!<\/p>\n
Caleb Serong and Andrew Brayshaw celebrate the win.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cThe third quarter was the best quarter of footy we\u2019ve played all year to be honest \u2013 we just didn\u2019t get the reward on the scoreboard.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing in at three quarter time, the message was pretty clear \u2013 lads, you should be full of confidence that this game is stacking up the right way.<\/p>\n
\u201cSure as eggs, we continued on our merry way and got the reward in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a defender it\u2019s nice to be on the side that don\u2019t see the ball for a bit!<\/p>\n
\u201cThe game now is momentum \u2026 When it\u2019s your turn, capitalise. I thought we did that.\u201d<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s what is setting the Dockers of 2026 apart \u2013 their ability to remain composed in those crunch moments, despite an average player age of just 25.1.<\/p>\n
‘Massive loss!’: Tom Barrass goes down | 00:44<\/p>\n
The Dockers refused to wilt despite scoring just one-goal in their third quarter domination.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re a group that just likes winning week to week,\u201d Clark said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will review this game for what it is \u2013 there will be a lot of learnings.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was far from perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n
And teammate Pat Voss agreed when speaking to Fox Footy post match.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn years past, we\u2019ve probably let those games slip\u2026 from our point of view it was very gritty,\u201d he said of the win.<\/p>\n
Hawks get away with questionable sub! | 00:35<\/p>\n
The Dockers now move into top spot on the AFL ladder \u2013 but second placed Sydney have a game in hand when they take on North Melbourne this weekend.<\/p>\n
Freo can equal their AFL-best streak of nine consecutive wins when they face Essendon next weekend.<\/p>\n
But Longmuir isn\u2019t buying into the \u2018Flagmantle\u2019 dream just yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy for our fans to be excited \u2013 we\u2019re playing an exciting brand of footy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur fans should be excited about the path we\u2019re on.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut our challenge is to just stay in the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dockers coach Justin Longmuir is \u201cincredibly proud\u201d of Freo\u2019s fight to chase down Hawthorn on Thursday night \u2013…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":655862,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,11292,28952,64,63,689,55,639,113635,36855,9203,36869,317114,26517,317113,317111,253329,12090,7483,25833,10124,317109,2105,4517,7492,317110,12102,36858,10400,97820,28267,25874,317108,677,25824,46,668,317112,85,51300,26110,317107,69078,3439],"class_list":["post-655861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-alex-pearce","tag-andrew-brayshaw","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-average-player-age","tag-brennan-cox","tag-catherine-healey","tag-crunch-moments","tag-dam-wall","tag-daniel-carson","tag-defeat-hawthorn","tag-dominant-finish","tag-emphatic-win","tag-final-quarter","tag-final-term","tag-five-goal-blitz","tag-fremantle-dockers","tag-games-slip","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-hamstring-injury","tag-hawthorn-hawks","tag-immediate-thoughts-post-match","tag-jack-gunston","tag-jordan-clark","tag-justin-longmuir","tag-key-defenders","tag-luke-ryan","tag-michael-frederick","tag-midfield-shift","tag-oceania","tag-pat-voss","tag-perth","tag-press-conference","tag-quarter-domination","tag-sports","tag-stephen-silvagni","tag-straight-wins","tag-tiredest-team","tag-tom-barrass","tag-western-australia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=655861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/655862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}