There were sombre scenes in the changerooms following Fremantle’s round one loss to Essendon at Marvel Stadium on 21 March.
The second episode of fremantlefc.com.au’s documentary series, Inside the Lockdown takes fans inside the club, focusing on how Fremantle handled the Covid-19 crisis during round one of the AFL season and week one of the AFLW finals series.
The episode will be released at 24 April at 4pm on fremantlefc.com.au.
As part of the episode, viewers can see how first-time senior coach Justin Longmuir digested his team’s six-point loss to the Bombers.
Longmuir doesn’t hide his frustration to Freo falling a kick-short, as did the players, who agreed that they were let down by their efforts early as the Bombers kicked the opening four goals.
Longmuir starts the meeting by asking the players how they felt.
“Pretty gutted but pretty proud by how we rallied in that last quarter. We left it too late,” says Fremantle leader Reece Conca.
Fellow leader in Michael Walters also speaks up.
“I thought our first half, we were just too reactive to them (Essendon),” Walters says.
“Rather in our second half, I felt like the ball was there to win, we would win it and go and get it.”
Longmuir tells the players the difference between the first and second halves came down to their belief.
“We can’t be a team that waits, we can’t be a team that second guesses ourselves,” Longmuir says.
“I’m all for mistakes, because we all grow from mistakes, right? That’s how God built us. He built us to have a crack, make a mistake, learn from it, go again.
“To learn from mistakes, you first have to go and make a mistake by being proactive and getting after the ball.
“It took until probably about quarter time for us to get our shit together and blend behind the ball."
Longmuir wraps up the meeting to say the team showed they could deliver, despite the result.
“I’m disappointed. But I’m proud as well. I’m proud because you fought it out to the end,” Longmuir said.
“From what I’ve seen in the last two games (against Essendon and West Coast in the Marsh Community Series), even the Carlton game (in the Marsh series) when we were on top, your willingness to fight it out was great.
“But we’ve got be a team that comes to games and gets on the front foot and takes it to teams.”
View episode one below.
