Fremantle senior coach Justin Longmuir believes his side’s starts in 2026 are a positive change, but he is still chasing perfection as the team builds into the season.

Fremantle enjoyed another blistering start on Saturday afternoon, scoring a record-breaking highest-ever first quarter against the Demons (49 points) from 25 inside 50s.

Longmuir’s side has now collectively scored 101 points in first quarters over the opening two rounds of the 2026 season, while conceding just 26 points.

As pleasing as the fast starts have been, Longmuir believes his side still needs to piece together a full four-quarter performance after being outscored by Melbourne four goals to two in the second quarter, reducing the margin to 31 at halftime.

“Every team's probably a little bit rusty early in the season, and you're looking to play your way for longer each week,” Longmuir said.

“I thought today we played our way for a little bit longer, and I said to the players after the game that next week is about trying to play our way a little bit more and keep building into the season.

“We've probably talked about our first quarters a bit more pre-game, and we’ve shown some vision around how we start games and how we get into games.

“Our contest has been really strong, which gives you good field position. Our front-half defence has also been really strong, and I feel like we really trust ourselves with ball in hand.

“As good as the first quarter was, I felt like we left a few out there. I thought there were 10 goals in that first quarter.

“Overall, I thought our method was pretty strong.”

By the final siren, Fremantle led the inside 50 count by two, but efficiency proved the difference, with Fremantle scoring from 57% of their forward 50 entries compared to 36% for the Demons.

Two of the more impressive contributors in Longmuir’s side were late inclusion Luke Ryan, who replaced Brandon Walker, and debutant Chris Scerri, who signed with Fremantle as a Supplementary Selection Period player in February.

Longmuir was full of praise for the pair.

“Early in the week, he (Ryan) was still feeling the effects at our first training session from his illness last week,” Longmuir said.

“He's done a lot of work to try and catch up to the rest of the group, and I think that work paid off for him to come in tonight.

“We've got some players coming back, so it's too early to talk selection, but I thought he played his role really well tonight.”

“He (Scerri) did some great things.

“He was really nervous before the game. It's been such a quick rise over the last 18 months. Ever since he got to the club, he's worked his backside off to understand the high-forward role.

“Sam Sitkowski has taken him under his wing and really helped educate him.

“I love the way he trusted himself to back his pace in. For a first game at AFL level, to have that as a weapon and back it in was great to see.”

Fremantle will now play Richmond at Optus Stadium in Round 3 as part of back-to-back home games on Saturday 28 March.