Fremantle are taking a ‘no excuses’ approach into their return to finals for the first time since 2015, with senior coach Justin Longmuir believing there is ample experience within Fremantle’s leadership and coaching core to provide the necessary guidance.

While it will be Fremantle’s first home final at Optus Stadium, the Bulldogs go into the clash having played there against Melbourne in last year’s Grand Final.

The Dogs have totalled six finals games in the past three years, including four last year, with wins against Essendon, Brisbane and Port Adelaide prior to their Grand Final loss.

“As a young group, you’ve got to start somewhere,” Longmuir said.

“We’ll do our best to prepare our players for what finals footy looks like. Come next Saturday night, there will be no excuses.

“We get to start against a team that’s got a lot of finals experience, so that’s a great challenge for us.”

Longmuir said Fremantle’s coaching group have plenty of wisdom to impart on the team.

Coaches Matthew Boyd, Josh Carr and Joel Corey have all played in a Grand Final, while Jaymie Graham and Longmuir were opposing assistant coaches in the 2018 Grand Final - a game that James Aish played in for Collingwood.

Executive General Manager of Football Peter Bell also has two premierships to his name from his time with North Melbourne.

“We’ve got a lot of finals experience around the club in coaching roles, in admin, and within our playing group,” Longmuir said.

“We’ll try and fast track as many of our players to understand what to expect and like I said, Saturday will produce no excuses.

“Aishy’s had a fair bit of finals experience. He played in four finals in 2018. David Mundy, Nat Fyfe and Michael Walters have made it to the big dance. We’ve got a lot of experience around that we’ll draw on.”

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