Sam Switkowski says Fremantle had prepared to combat what St Kilda delivered in Sunday’s loss at Marvel Stadium, but still weren’t able to stop a cleaner and hungrier Saints side in a 15-point loss.

With a near full strength squad coming up against a wounded Saints, Fremantle were heavily favoured going into the clash - yet Switkowski felt the game was never on Freo’s terms.

Switkowski credited St Kilda’s work in the contest, winning the clearances 35-29 and going +5 in the contested ball despite Fremantle having 45 more disposals.

“We barely had the game on our terms all day,” Switkowski said.

“Early on we got beaten by what we knew. The game was on their terms and then we got beaten in the contest, where it starts.

“In the second half and couldn’t convert on the scoreboard at the end.”

The newly elected leader added that Fremantle needed to be more composed when it mattered.

“Our game plan holds up, we know that, when we do it well,” Switkowski said.

“There’s a little bit about execution, there were a lot of skill errors today which, especially in our forward 50, is hard to defend and they hurt us on the scoreboard.

“Then (it was) a little bit of contest work, they went in a bit harder than us today.”

Fremantle padded the stats sheet, especially their backline, with Luke Ryan having a career-high 37 disposals and Brennan Cox taking a Club-record equalling 20 marks.

Hayden Young also had 30 disposals and 12 marks, while Jordan Clark had 28 disposals and 11 marks.

But the backline’s stats were in part due to how St Kilda set up, meaning Fremantle’s backline had to pass it around to find a way through.

“I thought Luke Ryan, Hayden Young and Brennan Cox took some incredible intercept marks and put their body on the line, which they do every week, so that was pleasing,” Switkowski said.

“(But St Kilda’s) defence was folding back a lot throughout the game, so our backs were kicking around a bit.

“I thought there was an element of that being ok and controlling the footy, but I thought we had to energise it a bit more and get some better looks off it.

“We were a bit stagnant with our ball movement and we couldn’t convert scores from it.

Switkowski said the work will now begin to bounce back against North Melbourne on Saturday night at Optus Stadium.

“I think everyone’s already clear on what the review will be on Tuesday when we get back to the Club,” Switkowski said.

“We’ll work on putting that together at training and improving on it next week.”

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