Stephen Hill expressed empathy towards Fremantle’s loyal fans after a 104-point loss to Sydney at the SCG on Saturday.
According to Hill, Fremantle were undone by a lack of effort that was prevalent early in the game, seeing Sydney lead by 73-points at half time.
“It was obviously tough out there,” Hill said.
“We know if you don’t bring that effort and compete, good teams like Sydney are going to hurt you and that exactly what happened, particularly in the first half.
“It’s disappointing, but we’re going to make sure that we don’t bring that same effort next week.”
With eight wins in 2017, Fremantle have shown significant improvement on 2016 – but after their second defeat of 100 points or more this season, Hill knows that the young Freo side can’t let their guard down.
“We’ve got some young guys that need to keep working and there probably weren’t enough guys supporting our leaders,” Hill said.
“Nat Fyfe led from the front, I thought he was super, but we didn’t have enough other guys following him and supporting him.”
Hill expects another tough opponent for Fremantle in the fourth-placed Tigers, who lost to Geelong on Saturday by 14 points.
“(Richmond’s) been great all year so it’s going to be another tough game,” Hill said.
“We really have to compete from the start otherwise they’ll hurt us like Sydney did as well.
"We’re going to have to compete hard, work hard and give ourselves a chance.”
The round 22 clash has added meaning as Fremantle’s final game at Domain Stadium.
Hill said it was important to send the ground off on a happy note for Freo fans.
“We have to perform for our fans as well,” Hil said.
“They’ve been supporting us all year and we can’t put up performances like we did today.
“We need to play well for them as well and make sure we finish off the season strong.”
