Fremantle were once again required to play from behind after another slow start against the Western Bulldogs in an eventual 49-point loss, and Jaeger O’Meara said the ongoing issue is clearly a source of frustration for the players.
Friday night’s game led to Fremantle’s 10th consecutive first quarter deficit, dating back to round 22 of the 2022 season.
The new recruit is yet to go into quarter time with a lead in his six games at Fremantle.
“We haven’t been starting anywhere near as well as we’d like to, it feels like we’ve lost every first quarter we’ve played,” O’Meara said.
“We’ve been behind on the scoreboard so we’re always trying to chase.”
But the leader said he and his teammates were most disappointed by the Bulldogs five goal to one final term.
“I thought the first three quarters we were sticking at it, we obviously weren’t in front on the scoreboard but we were having a crack,” O’Meara said.
“We were really disappointing in the last quarter, we went away from our game, lost the contest, I felt like we tried to fix the contest, and they’d win the ball and have receivers out left right and centre.
“Our game is based off our defensive ability and also the contest and we didn’t get the contest right today.”
Midfielder Caleb Serong (35 disposals) and ruckman Sean Darcy (53 hitouts, five contested marks) were again among Fremantle’s best.
“Caleb’s leading the way, he’s a tough little bugger and he puts in an enormous amount of work during the week,” O’Meara said.
“It’s no surprise the way he’s playing, he’s been incredibly consistent and I think that comes back to his consistency throughout the week.
“It was a good ruck battle, 'Swaggy' (Darcy) is having a really good year as well, getting his hand to a lot of hitouts and Tim English was doing the same thing (for the Bulldogs), he was working really hard around the ground, so it was a good battle between those two.”
The clash was O’Meara’s first Len Hall Tribute Game, with 47,503 in attendance.
“It was really special,” O’Meara said.
“I love paying respects to the Anzacs and it was a special moment to be standing side by side with them as the last post was played.
“It would have been nice to get a nice to get a win for the veterans who were Freo fans.”
