Fremantle acknowledges harsh reality as disastrous collapse leads to a missed chance.
A “rather dejected” Fremantle has reached a new low in the AFL, with their catastrophic finish to the 2024 season costing them a finals berth, despite being comfortably in third place just four weeks prior.
After suffering three consecutive defeats, the Dockers entered Sunday’s match against Port Adelaide with the simple task of winning to secure a spot in the top eight.
However, their 20-point loss meant Fremantle dropped to 10th place, ending their 2024 campaign.
The outcome confirms that Fremantle now holds the record for the highest-ranked team after Round 20 to miss the finals entirely, with the players left heartbroken following Sunday’s loss, as admitted by Docker Heath Chapman.
We’re struggling to deliver that decisive blow like other teams can,” he told foxfooty.com.au.
It’s obviously pretty disappointing. It’s going to sting.
We just didn’t have the finesse we needed against a very strong team.
There’s still a lot of work ahead for us as a team and as a club.
We weren’t able to seal the deal in the end… we couldn’t finish it off.
The Dockers stumbled to the end of the season with four consecutive losses, finishing 2024 with only one victory from eight matches decided by 13 points or fewer.
Coach Justin Longmuir reflected, It feels like a huge opportunity lost. We just couldn’t deliver when it counted.
Our effort can’t be faulted we faced three top-four teams in those final rounds. Part of me thinks we should have won all of them, but we didn’t execute well enough.
We didn’t rise to the occasion in crucial moments.
While 90 percent of our game is in good shape, the remaining 10 percent whether it’s discipline, game scenarios, or understanding what’s needed at critical moments wasn’t up to par.
We need to improve.
Fox Footy’s Leigh Montagna and Ben Dixon concurred, noting that Fremantle’s season was a missed opportunity as they finished 10th, just half a win outside the top eight.
They’ll look back and regret the opportunity they missed, Montagna said on First Crack.
I hope it stings. This Fremantle side will feel the burn over the summer.
It’s going to weigh on them during the off-season.
It was right there for them, Fremantle,Dixon added.
They’ll be nursing their wounds.
