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Nicholas Quinlan • May 10th, 2025 4:35 pm
The SEN Crunch Time team has put Fremantle under the microscope, believing that the Dockers must adapt their game plan in order to be more competitive.
This comes about as Fremantle lost on Thursday against an undermanned Collingwood side by 14 points at home despite having the double the number of inside 50s.
As a result, the Dockers have slipped to a 4-5 record as they now sit outside the top eight, with pressure mounting on coach Justin Longmuir to turn the ship around.
Gerard Whateley holds the view that Fremantle must not fall behind the eight ball before they reach their Round 13 bye, before they make significant changes.
“I feel like we’ve now seen enough to go, this style of football is not going to be successful,” Whateley suggested on SEN’s Crunch Time.
“They’ve got three weeks before they get to the bye and then that flex point, they have to stay viable; then they are going to have to make change.
“Once you are in a season going, this isn’t going to work – you can’t run a season out going this isn’t going to work.”
Hawthorn legend Dermott Brereton suggested that Longmuir should look at how Alastair Clarkson has been able to adapt and reinvent his gameplan over the last two decades as a coach.
“(Clarkson) is probably the most malleable coach we’ve seen over the last two decades,” he said.
“(He’s) able to change his game style in-season.
“So, this is going to be a test for Longmuir, he’s got to actually find a way so that he gives his forwards a better chance of winning.
“I mean, jeepers, if I was playing midfield and I looked up and saw Josh Treacy, I’d think, we’re winning this.”
Fremantle will head east to Sydney to take on the GWS Giants at Engie Stadium next Saturday.
If they are able to win, it will be the first time that they have beaten GWS at Engie Stadium in their history.
