In a club record-equalling 353rd game, David Mundy continued to be among Fremantle’s best players when it mattered the most, helping his team get across the line with a 15-point RAC Derby win at Optus Stadium.
Only Caleb Seorng’s brilliance – with 31 disposals and two goals – prevented Mundy from earning a Glendinning-Allan Medal on his big day, finishing with the second-most votes on the back of his 28 disposals and seven clearances.
After West Coast opened the scoring, Mundy earned a quick reply for Freo to evade a tackle and kick a classy goal on the run from just inside 50.
He said the goal was important to get his mind in the game after an ‘emotional’ week leading into the clash.
“It was obviously nice to get a little bit of the ball earlier and to kick that goal, I think that really kick-started particularly me into the game,” Mundy told the Final Siren podcast.
“There was a lot of pre game stuff, organising family and the guard of honour and things like that.
“It was really quite emotional and a hard thing to navigate through during the week.
“I think they kicked two pretty early goals and for the team to get really grounded after that and stick together was really important.”
Fremantle fans have endured a roller-coaster run in recent weeks, with impressive wins against Richmond and West Coast bookending a 64-point loss to Brisbane last week.
In that time Fremantle fielded the AFL’s second youngest team in round 20, youngest in round 21 and youngest in round 22.
Freo’s average age was 24.19, 18th in the AFL, compared to West Coast’s 27, second in the AFL.
Mundy was hopeful that Fremantle would be able to deliver their best more consistently as they mature.
“That's certainly the hope. And I think that's what the high expectations are being built off,” Mundy said.
“So we have performances like last week and a few others throughout the year, that builds frustration. I understand that, but I think that's a good frustration because we have such high expectations of each other.
“Today in particular, we really stayed connected and supported each other well and remained anchored in the moment.
"I feel like were able to adjust in the game to whatever the game is throwing at us.”
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