In the aftermath of Fremantle’s six-point comeback win against St Kilda on Saturday at Metricon Stadium, senior coach Justin Longmuir took players and staff aside to praise the team's efforts for coming from 36-points behind at quarter time to win with only two available players on the bench.
While Longmuir made it clear Freo’s opening term was unacceptable, he couldn’t fault the players’ response after quarter time.
"We’ve got fight. I don’t know a team that’s showed that much fight,” Longmuir said
“Yeah, we let ourselves down in the first quarter, but the beauty of that is you’ve got three quarters to make up for it.
“We’d love to do that from the start, we’d love four quarters of it.”
Longmuir made it clear it was a team effort that got the win, but he made a point of highlighting the efforts of small forward Lachie Schultz, who kicked the winning goal.
“Shooter (Lachie Schultz), you stood up in the last quarter and you had the opportunity to seal the game and you did it for us,” Longmuir said as the players cheered in agreement.
“The thing that is unrelenting with you, is your effort on defence for the team.
“You’re always doing the team thing. The amount of tackles and the times you just get a little fingernail in there to disrupt…you deserve it and (the winning goal) is a reward from the footy gods for all your hard work.”
Longmuir said the players’ attitude in the win was reflective of how the club had approached the five-week hub on the Gold Coast.
“Everyone contributed, and when we’re all on the same page…that’s what happened in the second and third quarter, so well done,” Longmuir said.
“We deserve that win on the back of the hard work we’ve done on the last six weeks and these guys (the staff) all deserve that win as well.
“I’ve not heard one person complain about what we’ve been dealt in the last six weeks, we’ve got on with our work and we’ve got better week in week out and that’s what we can dish up when we play our best footy.”
Longmuir turned the focus briefly to Freo’s first genuine home game since August 2019, more than 10 months ago.
“Next week we get to go on our own turf in front of our own fans. How exciting is that!” Longmuir said.
“So enjoy it, because it’s the best two hours of the week and when you win you can enjoy it, because the journey is the most important part.
“So get the music on and enjoy each others company.”
