Andy Brayshaw believes ‘basic fundamentals’ let Fremantle down against St Kilda, in Freo’s first AFL home game of the season at Optus Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

After taking a 12-point lead into half-time, Fremantle were unable to stem the flow of an impressive Saints outfit, which kicked seven second-half goals to run out 10-point winners.

Brayshaw was instrumental in keeping Fremantle in the hunt until the final siren, putting up career-best numbers on the stats sheet.

The 22-year-old finished with 40 disposals (career-high), 628 metres gained (game-high), ten marks, eight tackles and 181 AFL Fantasy points.

The midfielder was also responsible for much of Freo’s drive, with eight score involvements, six intercepts and four clearances to his name.

However, it wasn’t enough as St Kilda’s Max King and Jack Higgins piled on four goals apiece to lift their side to victory.

Fremantle have conceded six goals and three behinds in each of the third quarters across the first two weeks of the season, against Adelaide and St Kilda.

Brayshaw lamented the third-quarter efforts across consecutive weeks, which have seen Freo give up a half-time lead both times.

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“It’s definitely something we’re going to be looking at,” Brayshaw said.

“We thought the energy was up at half time, but we still really weren’t able to maintain that lead…and St Kilda made us pay up at the other end.

“We thought we were set up in really good positions, and we kept the ball in our front half for a fair bit, but we just weren’t able to execute fundamentals.

“It’s definitely something we’re going to review and hopefully, improve on going forward.”

Brayshaw believed the pressure was placed on Fremantle’s backline group to hold up St Kilda in attack.

The Saints came out on top in the inside 50 count 50-42 and took 12 marks inside 50 compared to Freo’s three for the match.

“Our backs were able to buffer that in the first half, but I think we put them under too much pressure,” Brayshaw said. 

“In the second half that probably started to show a little bit.” 

Brayshaw said there is plenty for the group to review ahead of next weekend’s RAC Derby clash with West Coast.

“It’s a disappointing loss, we definitely weren’t at our best and there’s definitely a lot to improve on,” Brayshaw said.

“We’ll review the game quite hard over the next couple of days and then take some of those learnings into West Coast next Sunday.”