A five-goal to two second term saw Fremantle head into the main break with a nine-point lead, but GWS responded by kicking nine goals to six in the second half to clinch a nine-point win over a resilient Fremantle side. 

Senior Coach Justin Longmuir reflected on the loss, declaring that GWS capitalised on more opportunities but could not fault the effort of the playing group after an arm-wrestle affair.

“I thought it was two good sides having a real crack, and like I said to the players after the game, they took a few more opportunities than us,” Longmuir said.

“I was really proud of our effort, to come away from home, play a top-four side, and we get behind early and just keep buttering up and challenging them.

"I thought we played a really good brand of footy; they just took more opportunities than us.

“In the end, it comes back to execution, and we can show more composure inside 50 under pressure and under scoreboard pressure. It’s something I feel we have improved on a lot but has come back to bite us in the past three weeks, where we lacked composure to tie our work off.”

Coming off three consecutive losses and with the fight for a top-eight finish in the balance, Longmuir called on the Fremantle faithful to get behind the Club in their final home game of the season against Port Adelaide next Sunday.

“Front up next Sunday, support us like crazy, and help us get over the line,” Longmuir said.

“We’ll front up like we did today; you can’t sit back and look at our footy over the past three weeks and say we didn’t have a crack. The message to the players after the game was that I was proud of their efforts.

"Sometimes (this year) we have been in front and played a little bit cautious. Today, as the game went on, we were behind, and I thought we played the right way and created enough opportunities.

“Our challenge is to front up against Port next week and do the same thing.”

Talking about his two-star midfielders, Longmuir credited Andrew Brayshaw and Caleb Serong for their individual performances. Brayshaw posted an equal career-high disposals (41), while midfield partner Serong battled the tag all day, even pushing forward and kicking two goals (his fifth in two weeks).

“I felt we had a really even contribution today, Andy (Brayshaw) was exceptional, but they (GWS) probably had three of the best players on the ground today,” Longmuir said.

“I thought Caleb played well and fought through the tag. Toby Bedford has done some really good jobs this year, as we all know, and I thought Caleb was able to fight through it, hit the scoreboard, and play a good game.”

Next week’s game against Port Adelaide will be the Club’s Member Thank You round, where the Club will pay thanks to the record number of devoted members who have shown their support throughout 2024.