There was no shine taken off Fremantle's big win over Carlton despite losing the second half to the Blues, with Freo Dockers coach Ross Lyon praising his side's emphatic victory.
Fremantle stormed to a 70-point lead at half-time at Etihad Stadium on Saturday, keeping the lowly Blues to just seven behinds by the main break.
They looked set for a monster victory, but conceded six goals to three after half-time to run out 57-point victors. The win backed up their triumph over Adelaide last week at Optus Stadium, and Lyon did not appear perturbed by not continuing to trample the Blues in the second half.
"We just continued on from how we played against Adelaide. We numbered off really quickly, pressured really well and went forward quickly and scored. That was really pleasing," he said post-game.
"Even the third quarter we had double the amount of entries, their pressure lifted and some of our decision-making wasn't as slick. I thought [Patrick] Cripps, one of their leaders and [Kade] Simpson, a pretty special player over a long time, they both really stood up. They took some opportunities.
"In the last quarter, we're a young team, and we didn't number off as quickly and allowed them to do what they do and spread the ball so the game was really good feedback.
"If you want to be a great team in the AFL you have to do it over four quarters and the full 100 minutes."
It also broke a run of losses interstate for the club, which had not won away from Perth this season. In their previous five games outside of Optus Stadium, the Freo Dockers had lost by an average of 56 points, although Lyon did not take any extra satisfaction from winning on the road.
"Not a focus for me. I don't think it's as bad as it's been made out to be," he said.
"If you look at the pure scoreboard you could make that conclusion, but within that there was some good halves and good performances in Canberra (against Greater Western Sydney in round four) and even Sydney, I know what the scoreboard said (they lost by 59 points), but we were 28 [forward-50] entries apiece at half-time."
The Freo Dockers had 12 individual goalkickers in the win, with star midfield duo Lachie Neale (three goals and 33 disposals) and Nat Fyfe (two goals and 30) hitting the scoreboard.
Lyon pointed to the progress of young talls Brennan Cox and Michael Apeness, who each booted a goal against the Blues, as another positive.
"It's always nice to get a good spread of goalkickers and it makes life easier. There's some good signs with our young key forwards," he said.
Fremantle's win over the Blues was its sixth of the season as it heads into its bye next week, meaning it is only two wins shy of its 2017 total. They will regain suspended forward Michael Walters for their round 15 meeting with Brisbane and Lyon said there is still room to improve.
"We're really about development and growth. We'd love the win-loss ledger to be a bit better but it's not the singular focus," he said.
"We've only won the last two weeks because it's an outcome of improving our preparation, improving our competition and improving our system.
"Results are just a distraction, to be truthful. If I sit around talking about wins and losses you're defined by them and all it does is affect you. We focus on what we need to do, which is prepare and bring great effort."
