Fremantle senior coach Justin Longmuir outlined that his purpose of success and family were the driving factors behind the decision to transition to an ongoing employment agreement from 2026 and beyond.
Longmuir revealed he had open dialogue with the Club’s senior leaders for more than a year about what decisions were best for the Club that would deliver a period of contention and success for the AFL side.
“When we were having those discussions, I kept coming back to my purpose as a coach and a person as well as (my purpose) in this job,” Longmuir said.
“Why I do this job is to support my family but more importantly to bring success to the Freo Family.”
“I just kept going back to those two things, which lead us to this option, and I feel really comfortable with it.”
Longmuir touched on the alignment of Fremantle CEO Simon Garlick, President Chris Sutherland and Football Manager Joe Brierty during the entire process of securing his future at Freo.
“It highlights the relationship that I have with Joe, Simon and Chris that we frequently get together and have football conversations that (are aimed) at getting us results (for this Club),” Longmuir said.
“It is a sign of respect I have for them and a sign of respect they have for me.
Garlick also touched on the alignment between Longmuir and the Club but also believed the decision to put faith in Longmuir was the right choice for the men’s program to remain focussed on the season ahead.
“We’re attempting to build a Club that not only attract the right type of people to our environment but more importantly that we retain them and clearly we identified ‘JL’ at the head of that queue,” Garlick said.
“The alignment that not only Justin but his entire coaching group and all football staff have with this playing group is something that I have rarely seen in this game.”
Fremantle take on Melbourne this Sunday at Rushton Park for the first AAMI Community Series match and the senior coach was keen to stop the talk about his contract status and get to work on the season ahead.
“I’m focussed on what I need to do at work every day to help benefit the players and help them perform on weekends,” Longmuir said.
“This week (against Melbourne) is going to be full dress rehearsal for us.
“Geelong play Brisbane in round 0, in preparation for round 1 and we play Melbourne in round 0, in preparation for round 1.”
