Fremantle’s AFL season may be over, but the Club remains a hive of activity as coaches and players prepare for Peel’s upcoming WAFL finals series, the start of the AFLW season and the upcoming AFL off-season.
 
Senior Coach Justin Longmuir will commence exit meetings with the players from Wednesday, and said the team’s mindset would be most important heading into the summer.
 
As he prepares to send the players on their off-season at the end of this week, Longmuir said the most frustrating element of 2023 had been the team’s inconsistency. 
 
Handling expectation after last year's breakthrough finals appearance and come-from-behind win against the Western Bulldogs had been an issue early in the year, putting the team behind the eight ball. 
 
"They're all experiences that will grow us as a group if we learn from them and understand how we to cope with them," he said.
 
"Largely it will be around the mindset we need to take into the off-season and take into next pre-season. That's the thing to learn from, more than the Xs and Os.
 
"There's been a real human element to this season that we need to learn from, and I look forward to discussing that with the players and getting them to discuss it, and using that to frame up how we approach the pre-season."
 
He encouraged his players to watch as much of the AFL finals series as they could, confident that their absence would be "burning".
 
"You love your players to watch as much footy through the year as they can, because you want them to understand roles and trends of the game and see howe the best players do it," he said.
 
"I would love them to watch the finals series. I'm not going to mandate it or anything like that. They need a break from the game as well.
 
"They'll be burning and frustrated that we're not a part of it and hopefully that drives us in the off-season and pre-season."

While key forward Matt Taberner suffered a minor setback with his back injury in the WAFL at the weekend, Longmuir expected the 30-year-old would be able to complete his off-season work.
 
Longmuir said Fremantle would target stability with its list in the upcoming exchange period rather than rival players, with the Senior Coach confident there is significant improvement that can be generated from the club's existing talent.
 
Freo are bracing for an answer on out-of-contract wingman Liam Henry's future as soon as this week, but ruckman Sean Darcy is not expected to be part of any trade talks with a year to run on his deal.
 
Longmuir said the club would hold its final list management meeting this week as well as player exit meetings before wrapping up the season on Friday.
 
While retention of players was important for the coach, targeting new talent through the upcoming exchange period was not likely to be a priority.
 
"We had a lot of players leave last year and a lot of turnover of the list with 10 changes all up, so this year needs to be all about stability more than anything else," Longmuir said on Tuesday.
 
"I just think we need to get more reps into some of our younger players."
 
 Asked if he was bracing for a difficult conversation with Henry, Longmuir said he was looking forward to talking through the 22-year-old's future after his strong end to the season. 
 
"The ball is in his court. He knows where I stand, he knows where the club stands, and from what I understand he is getting closer to making a decision," the coach said. 
 
"I think this is the best place for his footy, so I hope he stays, but I don't have an opinion on where he is leaving or staying."
 
On Darcy's future, Longmuir said he was expecting the 25-year-old to be a Fremantle player "for many years to come".

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