Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\nFive of their six most recent wins came after trailing at three-quarter-time. <\/p>\n
They chased the Lions from the get-go in Perth on Friday, but there was no fighting comeback this time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI suppose the pressure of the game, in terms of being behind on the scoreboard, we just had to chase, and we didn\u2019t chase well,\u201d Longmuir said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs I said to the players, it\u2019s probably the first time I\u2019ve seen us be behind and lack composure, in those plays where (Josh Treacy) takes a mark in the goal square and you go to play on.\u201d<\/p>\n
His kick got smothered by Ryan Lester.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe opportunity before that, it just looked like we were out everywhere, and Jaeger (O\u2019Meara) missed a shot from 15 meters out,\u201d Longmuir continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd both those plays we dwelled on, and both those kick-ins went up the middle, and they got field position and scored.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, it felt like it was the first time we\u2019ve been in that position for a while, we\u2019ve probably felt the pressure of the game and lacked a little bit of composure to finish our work off.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dockers exposed? Lions cement finals | 02:06<\/p>\n
The Dockers were chasing the Lion because they failed to make the most of their chances in front of goals.<\/p>\n
They had the same number of scoring shots as the Lions in the first term but trailed 0.5 to 3.2 at the break.<\/p>\n
They put 0.8 on the board before their first goal came late in the second quarter. And went into the second half trailing 5.4 to 3.8.<\/p>\n
They were eight points behind, despite having had two more scoring shots.<\/p>\n
As sides have proven so many times before, bad kicking becomes contagious.<\/p>\n
The Dockers will likely have to beat the Western Bulldogs next Sunday to qualify for finals.<\/p>\n
Amazingly, someone seems certain to miss out with 15 wins this season.<\/p>\n
Hayden Young and Matt Johnson should both be available to return.<\/p>\n
But the Dockers have recently brought several players back into the side that have not played a lot of football, including captain Alex Pearce, Corey Wagner and Nat Fyfe, who announced his retirement at the end of this season.<\/p>\n
Longmuir agrees that it\u2019s a risk.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, it is, we just have to work through that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re getting to the end of the season, sometimes there\u2019s a bit more risk this time of the year with that stuff as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe won\u2019t be playing any of those players if they\u2019re underdone and they\u2019re 50-50, but if they get through training and put their hand up for selection, then we\u2019ll have a discussion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll go over there and give our best shot.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve won 11 of 13. I know everyone will be doom and gloom and write us off again after tonight, but I\u2019ve got a lot of faith in this team.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve grown a lot. We\u2019ve already won three more games than last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t said farewell to Fyfey yet. We\u2019ve got plenty of footy left in us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fagan still seeking top 4 ‘guarantee’ | 08:20<\/p>\n
Brisbane coach Chris Fagan admitted that it is a relief that his side will play Hawthorn in round 24 for a potential spot in the top four and not as a battle for the Lions just to play finals.<\/p>\n
The reigning premiers dominated possession, with 106 more disposals than Fremantle, most of them uncontested. The Lions took 159 marks to the Dockers 61.<\/p>\n
After winning the flag the hard way in 2024, from outside the top four (fifth), Fagan said he thinks the players will be driven to take the easier route this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, it\u2019s a big relief,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was sitting in my hotel room today, thinking, if we lose tonight and we lose next week, we could miss finals, having 14 wins and a draw. That\u2019s unheard of.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it was just a relief to have that out of the way. It sort of allows us to plan a little bit forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess we\u2019ve got to win next week, obviously there will be a chance to finish top four if we do.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, I think this is our seventh year in a row that we\u2019ve qualified for finals. That\u2019s hard to do, particularly if you\u2019re an interstate club, I reckon, because you got to travel more, and there\u2019s a few more obstacles.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure it\u2019ll drive the group you know that desire to finish top four.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s probably 1001 different ways the ladder could end up next week, but we\u2019re in control of our own destiny.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Lions looked much more stable in defence, with the returns of Ryan Lester and Brandon Starcevich.<\/p>\n
Lester kicked his first goal in more than three years, and provided a game highlight when he smothered Josh Treacy\u2019s almost certain goal from the goal line after the big Docker took a mark and played on.<\/p>\n
Fagan said it was inspirational.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, that was inspirational, what he did in the goal square,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a guy that\u2019s gotten better with age, really, and there\u2019s no doubt, last week against Sydney, we really missed him, and we really missed Brandon Starcevich in our back line.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re just a little bit young and inexperienced, but it was good to have those two back tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fagan joked that the club should campaign to move next week\u2019s game away from the Gabba, because of their away record this season.<\/p>\n
Friday night\u2019s win in Perth was the Lions ninth in 2025 away from home. They have lost twice on the road and also drew with North Melbourne in Tasmania.<\/p>\n
They have won just six of 10 at home.<\/p>\n
That record served them well last season, winning the last three of their four finals away from Queensland.<\/p>\n
They beat Greater Western Sydney in the Semi-Final at the Showgrounds and both Geelong, in the Preliminary Final and Collingwood, in the Grand Final, at the MCG.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to improve our form at home,\u201d Fagan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just should travel somewhere and play next week, to be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir isn\u2019t ready to concede his side won\u2019t play finals this season after Friday\u2019s night\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71403,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,11292,64,63,689,55,639,651,3237,3244,49785,10124,46861,55988,20427,1139,5330,46632,10991,10400,55990,14455,39225,677,46,55989,701,19078,25838,85,2801,5338,3439,698],"class_list":["post-71402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-alex-pearce","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-brisbane","tag-brisbane-lions","tag-chris-fagan","tag-corey-wagner","tag-fremantle-dockers","tag-fronts-media","tag-game-highlight","tag-goal-line","tag-greater-western-sydney-giants","tag-head-coach","tag-hotel-room","tag-josh-treacy","tag-justin-longmuir","tag-lack-composure","tag-matt-johnson","tag-nat-fyfe","tag-oceania","tag-perth","tag-press-conference-video","tag-queensland","tag-ryan-lester","tag-scoring-shots","tag-sports","tag-tasmania","tag-the-gabba","tag-western-australia","tag-western-bulldogs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71402","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=71402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}