For the anchor: Why the love for Longmuir stays strong
The Dockers' top-four hopes will receive a major test on Sunday when they face ladder leaders Collingwood at the MCG.
Hayden Young returns for Fremantle after recovering from a hamstring injury, while Collingwood made five changes - losing the likes of Jeremy Howe (adductor), Dan Houston (abdominal) and Tim Membrey (managed) but regaining Brody Mihocek, Patrick Lipinski and Beau McCreery.
Longmuir is in his sixth year as Fremantle coach, and the pressure is on him to deliver the goods after guiding the club to just one finals appearance to date.
The high-stakes nature was highlighted last week when Longmuir's position was questioned by North Melbourne legend David King following Fremantle's 11-point loss to Sydney, which snapped the Dockers' six-match winning run.
Last Saturday's 13-point win over Hawthorn has helped momentarily quieten the doubters, but Fremantle players are still shocked at just how quickly the heat can come on Longmuir.
"I don't really understand the hate towards him to be honest," O'Driscoll said.
"We'd won six in a row and then we lose one game by not that much, and he's already scrutinised, with people saying they need to sack him.
"I love him. I reckon he's a great bloke and a really insightful coach. And I know all the boys love him too.
"He's got knowledge that a lot of other people wouldn't know.
"You can see our game plan holds up against Hawthorn and these other good teams. Those games that we've lost haven't been on JL, it's been on us."
When Longmuir arrived at Fremantle, he introduced a motto that has helped shape the playing group.
"We have this thing called 'For the Anchor' - we're all in it together," O'Driscoll explained.
"If one of us is lacking, it just makes the whole team fall down. So when JL's hung out to dry like that ... we're in it together.
"And with Caleb (Serong) getting tagged, it's another thing that we could mention.
"We made an emphasis (on that before the Hawthorn game).
"If he's getting tagged, we need to be in there as a family fighting for him, because against Sydney he got tagged and no one helped him.
"So little things like that just really inspire me and get me up and going, and get me excited to play for these boys."
O'Driscoll said the 'For the Anchor' culture has extended into other areas.
"Around the club, we have this thing called 'Scrub the Decks'," O'Driscoll said.
"So if we leave a pair of boots or the locker room is dirty, we're not leaving that to someone else. We have to do that.
"We always clean up after ourselves. Little details matter in the big scheme of things.
"Every time you go out and do something, it's for the anchor. You're representing the club and the people in here.
"We want to leave a legacy and a good footprint for the kids to come through and play footy."
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