FREMANTLE midfielder Ryan Crowley says his young teammates will learn from Friday night's 36-point loss to Collingwood and use the experience as they continue to develop this season.
Stephen Hill, Rhys Palmer and Anthony Morabito should form a dynamic midfield for years to come, but the trio's most recent performance was below the high standards it has set for itself.
Those players were upstaged by experienced Magpies Dane Swan, Scott Pendlebury, Ben Johnson and Shane O'Bree as Collingwood built its win around stoppage dominance.
Crowley said the Pies boasted midfield depth that Fremantle aspired to, and agreed their list of influential ball-winners was a long one.
"They're the benchmark, so these are the games you take the most out of and it probably shows how much we've got left to go," Crowley said.
"We've got a lot of young guys running through the midfield and hopefully over the next few years those guys can really push along and have influences on games like they have been.
"It was a really tough game. They're a big side [and] they're a good side, so we wouldn't have expected any less. With a young group we take a lot out of it and it probably shows us we've got a way to go."
With first place up for grabs, the clash had a massive build-up but threatened to fizzle when Collingwood broke out to a 31-point lead late in the first quarter.
It was Crowley, Fremantle's leading clearance player on the night behind Aaron Sandilands, who dragged the home side back into the contest with a superb second term.
But from there, knee injuries to Luke McPharlin and David Mundy had an impact and Fremantle slipped to its second loss of the season.
"We lost a couple of guys early, but we pushed through and I think we'll learn a lot from it and take a lot out of the game," Crowley said.
"We're not going to use that as an excuse, but it hurts your run late in quarters. It was good for the boys to push through that and play out a whole quarter."
