Gabby O’Sullivan feels Fremantle willed themselves into second place with a ‘desperate’ performance in Saturday’s 27-point win against North Melbourne at Fremantle Oval.

The win saw Freo leapfrog the Kangaroos into second place and secure a preliminary final berth against Conference B winners Carlton, to be played in Melbourne.

O’Sullivan, who has played in all three AFLW seasons, said that she and her teammates didn’t want to hold back in the do-or-die clash.

“It’s such a surreal feeling, we’ve been working so hard all year and to get that win yesterday, it was fantastic,” O’Sullivan said.

“I don’t think any of our girls were ready to be done with this season, so it’s great for the team that we’re moving on.

“Each year we’ve felt like we’ve improved. This year has just gone really well, we’ve had girls back from injury, everyone is on the same age and we’re just clicking.”

O’Sullivan said Fremantle will be wary not to revel in the highs of Saturday’s win with such a big task ahead of them.

“We’ve put the game behind us now and we’re focused on Carlton. For now, it’s just recovery and getting our bodies right to head to Melbourne,” O’Sullivan said.

“We haven’t met Carlton this season, so we’ll be watching their games with a magnifying glass on to make sure we can pick up anything.”

After finishing the season unbeaten at home, O’Sullivan paid tribute to the Purple Army for their support, with 6386 fans in attendance on Saturday.

She said that the team would use their support as motivation for next week’s away trip.

“I think in the fourth quarter, we heard the cheer squad chanting ‘finals’ and it gave me goosebumps,” O’Sullivan said.

“They’ve been absolutely amazing, it’s a great crowd and I think they’ve been giving us an extra couple of goals every week.

“We know that we’ve got their support all the way from Perth wherever we go and we know they have our backs so it was great and I’m sure we’ll see a few of them jumping on the planes this week.”