Fremantle utility Ed Langdon says Freo can take a lot from a disappointing loss to West Coast last Saturday at Domain Stadium.
The Eagles ran hot early, kicking seven goals to one in the opening term before Freo steadied in the 41-point loss.
“It was derby, so we knew it was going to be hot from the start,” Langdon said.
“But, unfortunately, they jumped us from the first quarter and it was always going to hard to recover from there.
“They came out harder, they were very physical around the ball and they brought the pressure - which is what we wanted to do - but they got the jump on us.”
With star midfielder Stephen Hill on the sidelines with a hamstring injury, Fremantle’s younger mids stepped up on the night.
Langdon led Freo’s disposal count with 31 touches, while fellow 21-year-old Connor Blakely picked up 30 of his own.
Langdon praised Blakely’s efforts, who also helped keep Eagles midfielder Luke Shuey quiet in the opening half.
“It is good (to see the young players performing), obviously Stephen Hill was a big loss to the midfield,” Langdon said.
“I thought Connor was really good. I thought he stood up and he was good on Shuey early.
“I thought when he broke that tag he worked off really well, so there’s some pleasing signs.”
Langdon added that it was important for Fremantle to continue work on developing their core of younger players before taking on Essendon this Sunday at Domain.
“There’s a lot to learn,” Langdon said.
“The main one is that we still have a lot of younger players and we’re still looking to grow every week.
“We’ll take a lot from this game just a lot of our running patterns and our work without the ball is the main thing we’ll work on throughout the week."
