Fremantle Dockers coach Justin Longmuir expresses pride in team’s approach during derby win over West Coast

PERTH, AUSTRALIA – MARCH 30: Dockers sign the team song during the 2025 AFL Round 03 match between the West Coast Eagles and the Fremantle Dockers at Optus Stadium on March 30, 2025 in Perth, Australia. (Photo by Daniel Carson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Justin Longmuir, the coach of Fremantle, has expressed his delight in the manner in which his squad has embraced and dealt with the pressure that has been placed on them as a result of their bad start to the season. This comes after Fremantle produced an overwhelming victory over West Coast by a score of 38 points.

Caleb Serong, the vice captain of the Dockers, tied Paul Hasleby’s record of four Glendinning-Allan Medals with a victory that stopped a six-game losing streak that began in August of the previous year. The Dockers won the game by a score of 15.16 (106) to 10.8 (68).

Longmuir stated that the players had done him proud, which is a response to the tremendous scrutiny that Fremantle has been subjected to as a result of their terrible start.

He expressed his pride by saying, “I am really, really proud of the way that we have handled the last two weeks.” Following our performance against Geelong, we have been subjected to a significant amount of pressure, which is completely understandable. On the other hand, we have remained steadfast in our approach, and our primary focus has been on enhancing our football skills. I believe that we made progress in this regard (on Sunday). I saw that to be a favourable indicator of the way that we intend to play. We still have a great deal of room for development in ourselves. However, we played for each other the majority of the time (on Sunday), and the difference between our best and worst performances was smaller. Additionally, the result was more similar to how we want it to look. Following Serong’s dominance, which included 35 disposals and 10 clearances, Longmuir profusely praised him for setting an example for others to follow. The Glendinning-Allan Medal was also awarded to Serong in 2021, 2023, and the most recent season.

As Longmuir put it, “He is one of the most consistent players in the Australian Football League.”

This is due to the fact that he is one of the players in the Australian Football League who is the most consistent between games. He is able to recuperate well, properly assess his game, and practice effectively.

In the course of the week, one of the younger players approached him and remarked, “Wow, you were very angry during that handball game. He responded by saying, ‘No, I wasn’t angry at all. This is the training. The way I train is like that. It is exactly what he does. The quality of his training, preparation, and performance is all at a high level. He also plays at a high level. A wonderful example to follow is he.

The extensive injury list of Fremantle included Hayden Young, Nat Fyfe, Sean Darcy, Sam Switkowski, Michael Walters, and Brandon Walker. Prior to the game, Fremantle suffered the loss of Jaeger O’Meara due to illness and Corey Wagner due to a calf injury. Hayden Young was also on the list. A sigh of relief was let out by the Dockers when they learnt that their skipper, Alex Pearce, had not sustained any injuries despite hobbling off during the game.

In order to compete against the Western Bulldogs on Sunday, Longmuir anticipates that Young, Fyfe, and Darcy will be available. There is a good chance that the scoreboard does not accurately reflect the outstanding performance. During the final few minutes, there was a point in time when the temperature was plus-30 inside-50s. The contested ball was powerful, and the front-half defending was powerful as well. There are a few that Fyfey has linked together. Let’s see where he seats, shall we? In some capacity, Sean and Youngy are expected to return the following week. It is something that we will work on during the week,” he stated.

In spite of the fact that the cavalry is on its way, I believe that the product that we released today with the team that we released was also really impressive. Now, as a football club, our objective is to handle this week in the same manner that we have handled the previous two weeks, and to put in a lot of effort to produce a stronger performance the following week.