Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir has marvelled at his players’ ability to handle the pressure of massive moments as they came from behind to produce a stunning six-point win over Collingwood at Gather Round.
The Dockers had kicked only five goals as the clock ticked towards time on in the final term and were under intense pressure in the wet at Adelaide Oval. But Jye Amiss and Matt Johnson booted successive goals to give Fremantle the lead and then Josh Treacy took a towering defensive mark to help the Dockers to win 7.3 (45) to 5.9 (39).
It was the second week in a row where Fremantle won a close game at Adelaide Oval following captain Alex Pearce’s match winning smother last week.
Longmuir said the players understand what’s needed in big moments.
“I feel like, over the last time maybe 18 months, we’ve slowly become better at being composed in important moments in last quarter,” he said.
“When the moments presented in the last, we were good enough to take them. We got the last three minutes pretty much how we wanted.
“We clearly didn’t rush ourselves in the last quarter, when we were trying to chase the game and chase the lead. We just waited for our moments to happen, and we were good enough to take them.
“And then I thought once we hit the lead, we executed really well. Last week, we didn’t show that composure like we could have, and we reviewed that. But I thought we stayed a lot steadier tonight.”
The win lifted Fremantle to 4-1 ahead of next week’s western derby and they could have been undefeated if not for handing back a 35-point lead against Geelong in round one.
The lowlight for the night was ruckman Sean Darcy suffering a concussion in the second quarter. He will now miss next week’s western derby, opening the door for the potential debut of Mason Cox.
Longmuir was full of praise for Luke Jackson after he rucked solo for the rest of the night.
“He was super, and got us going early in the third,” he said.
“We struggled with field position and I thought our pressure was horrible in the first in the first half. He helped us get on top in those areas in the third quarter. Clearly they came out after halftime and got the ball going our way. The game was played in our front half and to kick three quick ones was a great response.
“I thought his aerial work in particular in the second half was really strong. He marked it like it was a dry weather night. He was instrumental in helping us to win the game.”
And Treacy’s mark also drew huge admiration from Longmuir.
“Josh has done that so many times for us.,” he said.
“It’s like he’s wearing two gloves or a heap of grippo on his hands. It was pouring with rain, and he goes back with a flight and marks it like it’s a dry weather game. He’s been outstanding at that role.”