Despite a 17-point deficit going into half time, Fremantle Senior Coach Justin Longmuir praised the growth shown by the group as they outscored North Melbourne 67 - 24, notching up their second win of the season.
“I said to the players at half time there will be a lot of you that will be disappointed with efforts in that first half,” Longmuir said to media during his post-match press conference.
“We start from scratch, we move on, and focus on what is important and what’s going to happen in the third quarter.
“It was clearly a pretty strong third quarter that got us back in the game and put us ahead.
“I thought we got our contest right in the third quarter and we were able to hold onto the footy, trust ourselves, take the game on a bit more and hit our targets.”
Longmuir reflected on the Club’s focus and learnings from a disappointing 2023.
“I was pleased with the way players kept their heads, as it felt like at times and in reflection that was maybe a game we lost last year,” Longmuir said.
“It’s a sign of maturity and learning from our lessons from last year.
“The amount of work we’ve done on scenarios over the preseason, communication, connection, leadership, and our mental game to be able to put bad moments, quarters, or bad halves behind us, to make it just a bad quarter or bad half and not a bad game.
“All those things are positive and a reflection of lessons we’ve learnt from last year and what we’ve worked on.
The last time Fremantle started the season 2-0 was in 2015 when the Club went on to win the minor Premiership.
The team will now face the Adelaide Crows in the Club’s first-ever Good Friday appearance in front of the Purple Army at Optus Stadium.
