Fremantle Dockers coach Justin Longmuir wants his team to be ruthless despite big derby win over West Coast

West Australian

26-07-2025

Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir has urged his players to become more ruthless after they failed to maximise their chances to blow West Coast off the park and dramatically increase their percentage during Saturday's western derby.
The Dockers dominated all aspects of the game and won by 49 points but even West Coast coach Andrew McQualter admitted the 18.18 (126) to 12.5 (77) result flattered his team.
Fremantle entered the round locked on 12 wins with GWS, Hawthorn and Geelong, but with an inferior percentage to them all. They were 7.1 per cent behind the Giants and 10.1 per cent behind the Hawks and while they improved their own percentage from 108.9 to 111.7, they face a huge challenge to catch them in the remaining games.
A frustrated Longmuir said they missed the chance to win by a bigger margin after Fremantle had 14 more inside 50s, 18 more clearances and more than double the amount of scoring shots.
He said the team had missed too many chances this season to put teams away.
'We kicked 18.18 and four out on the fulls. We created plenty of opportunities to kick a good score, and we kicked a good score. But if you take away a couple of goals and add a couple more, it doesn't take much and you get a bit more of a percentage boost,' Longmuir said.
'I said to the players after the game, it's been a bit of a trend for us. We held Adelaide to 38 points at three quarter time and and coughed up three or four goals out of our back half just by going to sleep in that game. It was a bit the same in the GWS game.
'If you do that across the course of the year, it adds up. We need to be a bit more ruthless in that sense. Maybe that's the next step.'
Longmuir was thrilled that Hayden Young sent everyone a reminder of what he is capable of by collecting 23 disposals, seven clearances and kicking three goals to win the Glendinning-Allan Medal.
Young played as the sub last week and was influential in just over one quarter of footy against Collingwood. He was subbed out of the derby when the Dockers were in control after his brilliance set up the win.
'It was a good build from last week and should set him up well for next week. I thought he was clean, I thought he found space and I thought he finished well. He was sharp,' Longmuir said.
'We've missed his ball use at times this year. He's a welcome addition. He gives us another big body around there as well which helps Andy and Caleb and the other mids. We've missed that as well.
'I thought our stoppage work went to a level it hasn't seen for a while today. I'm sure Youngy had an impact on that. Of course that excites me.
'We've got to still find the right mix in there and who complements them. There's still a bit to work through. We'll work our way through that but good players make good coaches.'