{"id":878904,"date":"2026-09-03T21:22:25","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T21:22:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/878904\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T21:22:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T21:22:25","slug":"afl-finals-2026-justin-longmuir-press-conference-after-fremantles-qualifying-final-loss-to-hawthorn-video-latest-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/878904\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL Finals 2026: Justin Longmuir press conference after Fremantle\u2019s qualifying final loss to Hawthorn, video, latest news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir said his team can still win back-to-back finals and remain a premiership threat, despite Thursday\u2019s disappointing Qualifying-Final loss to Hawthorn<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That loss to the Hawks at Optus Stadium puts the Dockers into a home semi-final next week.<\/p>\n

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They will need to win two consecutive finals, including a potential interstate preliminary final, to reach the Grand Final.<\/p>\n

But Longmuir pointed to Fremantle\u2019s 14-game winning streak during this season, as well as its ability to win on the road, as evidence his players were capable of responding.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not dead and buried,\u201d Longmuir said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve earned the right for a double chance. I\u2019ve got full faith that we can get back to our best footy really quickly, and that starts next week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got eight days to regroup, get a few things right, and come out and play our best footy.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Fremantle struggled to generate momentum against a disciplined Hawthorn defence and was unable to capitalise on periods of territorial dominance after half-time.<\/p>\n

Longmuir said the Dockers had generated enough opportunities to challenge the Hawks, but could not string together enough positive moments.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just couldn\u2019t manage two in a row,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d kick a goal and then they\u2019d win the next centre bounce and then they\u2019d end up having the next shot and we just couldn\u2019t get any momentum.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fremantle outscored Hawthorn by a point in the second half and had more inside-50s, but repeatedly found its forward entries too predictable.<\/p>\n

Five Swans remain stood down by club | 02:52<\/p>\n

Longmuir accepted the Dockers needed to show more daring, particularly early, but rejected the suggestion they were simply overwhelmed by Hawthorn\u2019s defensive pressure.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it was one of those games where we were showing no dare and they were slicing us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were able to speed up off a few contests, get goal side with their method, and they made the most of those looks, and we just couldn\u2019t make the most of any of our looks going back the other way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Longmuir said the playing group had appeared in good spirits throughout the week and trained well, although the occasion provided an experience the Dockers could learn from.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought we held our head pretty well,\u201d Longmuir said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just that last play going inside 50 we were probably a little bit too predictable, made it a bit easy for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I thought their backs defended really well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Longmuir acknowledged the external scrutiny around Fremantle could intensify after the defeat but urged his players to block it out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s multiple ways you can get to where we want to get to,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got another chance at home next week and then there\u2019s still a path there.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, everything we\u2019ve been working on across the course of the year, we\u2019ve got to lean into that now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir said his team can still win back-to-back finals and remain a premiership threat, despite…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":878905,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-878904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878904","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=878904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/878905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}