Hayden Crozier has hailed the resilience of his teammates as Fremantle prevailed in Sunday’s 35-point win over Carlton at Domain Stadium.
The Blues raced out to an early lead with the opening four goals as several downpours made scoring difficult.
But Fremantle kicked 13 of the last 16 goals, with three of those coming off the boot of Crozier.
“The boys are pretty up and about, but it was a disappointing start,” Crozier said.
“In the first quarter Carlton came out on the front foot, which we expected, but we didn’t really respond the way we wanted to.
“I thought we really came out harder around the contest from the second quarter onwards.
“(Carlton) were getting numbers back on us in the forward line. Once we made it into a contest with seven on seven or eight on eight, I thought we played really well with even numbers.”
The win was Fremantle’s sixth from their past seven games and it was yet another in a come-from-behind fashion.
Crozier said that a combination of Fremantle’s fitness and belief contributed to the wins.
“Ideally, you don’t want to be in a situation where you’re four or five goals down,” Crozier said.
“But I think the fight and resilience in the group is first class.
“We have a young group and we really trust our fitness staff after putting us through the pre-season. We know we can run games out and I thought that we did that really well tonight.”
The first of Crozier’s three goals was the most crucial, with his snap from the pocket pulling Fremantle within 14 points halfway through the second term.
“I’m just thankful that it went through as I think I had five goals nine (points) leading into today,” Crozier said.
“I feel like I needed to kick one straight so I was just lucky it all went through.
“It’s nice to kick goals but I think it was an all round team performance that we saw tonight as we had many multiple goal kickers.
“I thought the forward line worked well after a disappointing start and the boys are happy with the four points.”
Next Saturday the fifth placed Fremantle travel to Adelaide to take on the first placed Crows.
“Adelaide are a fantastic side. They’re on top and they’re there for a reason,” Crozier said.
“They’re dangerous all over the ground and they’ll be a real tough test and with the home crowd.
“We’ve tried to be resilient no matter where we play – it’s anywhere, anytime as (senior coach) Ross (Lyon) likes to say.
“I thought we’ve done that right so far and hopefully we can keep that continuing.”
