Midfielder Connor Blakely says Fremantle can take heart from their response to a slow start, as the West Coast Eagles ran out 41-point winners in Saturday’s Carlton Draught Derby at Domain Stadium.

The Eagles kicked seven goals to one in the opening term, but Freo was able to stop the bleeding through some strong performances from their younger players.

Blakely finished the game with 30 disposals while fellow 21-year-old Ed Langdon led Freo’s tally with 31.

The Eagles kicked the opening four goals despite Fremantle leading the inside 50s 7-5 in the early stages.

Freo had a kicking efficiency of just 41.5 per cent in their forward half up to half time, seeing West Coast take 12 intercept marks up to the main break.

According to Blakely, West Coast’s ability to intercept the ball in defence was crucial.

“The Eagles really came to play,” Blakely said.

“It was obvious in the first half that we didn’t move the ball too fast.

“They had their numbers back with the likes of (Jeremy) McGovern, (Tom) Barrass and (Elliot) Yeo intercepting the ball.”

Trailing by 45 points at half time, Fremantle were staring at a heavy defeat but were able to claw the margin back slightly by full time.

“We did respond pretty well,” Blakely said.

“(Senior coach) Ross (Lyon) was happy with our hit around the ball and how we responded from how we played in the first half.

“But when you played the way we did early, it makes it very hard to come back into the game.

“(Fighting back) is a win in itself but then obviously the way that we played in the first half is unacceptable,”

“No-ones really proud of that and we’ll be reviewing that strongly this week.”

Blakely ran hot into half time with 22 touches while keeping his opponent Luke Shuey to 10 at the main break.

“It’s always nice to get your hands on the footy,” Blakely said.

“I had a job on Shuey at the start but as they were getting away from us we dropped that tag.

“It’s nice to be around the contest and whenever you play on players you can follow them and they’ll lead you to the ball and Shuey did that.”