Fremantle were left to rue a number of costly mistakes, especially early in a 22-point loss to Melbourne at the MCG on Saturday, according to forward Sam Switkowski.
After getting the hard work done in the middle by winning the clearances 35 to 27, Switkowski said Fremantle were unable to execute and were made to pay by the Demons, who kicked the first five goals of the match.
The Demons were also more clinical with their entries, with Melbourne defenders Steven May and Jake Lever latching on to Freo’s entries, helping their side dominate the marks 104 to 69.
“We certainly were in the game early on, but the fumbles, the easy mistakes and the basics let us down,” Switkowski said.
“We were right in it winning a lot of clearances. Our connection inside 50 hurt us as well.
“It’s a platform to build off and it’s a long season. We’ll take as much as we can from today and look forward to GWS next week.”
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Already struggling for height up front, Fremantle started the game with key defender Alex Pearce as a makeshift forward.
It went from bad to worse for Freo when Pearce went off in the second quarter with a suspected knee injury.
“We were a bit undermanned with height today, and aerially we were compromised but it’s how we work around that and next week, there’s going to be similar challenges. It’s how we combat that for next week,” Switkowski said.
“It was disappointing to see Alex go off, hopefully he’s alright. We just have to be able to adapt with a smaller forward line and we just weren’t able to execute it today.
“We’ll all wrap our arms around him, wait and see. Hopefully it’s not a long stint out.
“He’s an enormous leader for the club and he’s always really selfless getting around guys, so we’re going to have to do the same for him and really support him as much as we can.”
It was a bittersweet day for Switkowski, who played his first AFL game since round 23 of the 2019 season.
He capitalised on his return from a back injury with Freo’s first goal of the contest with a brilliant snap after a boundary throw in.
The goal came in the second quarter after Freo started the game with six consecutive behinds.
“It’s been a long journey back, it was a really frustrating year last year,” Switkowski said.
“To come back and play at the ‘G in my first game back, it was really cool. It’s the home of footy and where we want to play.
“It was nice to pop one through, we were a bit inaccurate today so we’re going to have to be better next week.”
Pearce injures knee against Dees
Freo feel the pain against Dees
