Leadership group member Michael Walters said that the Fremantle playing group take responsibility for their form-slump following the bye.
Fremantle have lost five from six after starting the season with a 7-5 record after round 13.
The club is now 8-10 and sit four points and percentage out of the top eight with four games to play, starting with Saturday’s clash against Geelong at Optus Stadium.
Walters said that he felt it was unfair to see senior coach Ross Lyon face the bulk of the criticism for Freo’s drop off.
“I feel like we’re letting him down,” Walters said.
“But we’re fully committed, Ross is fully committed. We just need to be more consistent.
“Inconsistency is letting us down, especially throughout the start of games, as you saw on the weekend, the Bulldogs came out firing and we weren’t able to match it.
“I can tell you right now, Ross hasn’t lost the players. He’s fully committed and we’re fully committed to him and the footy club.”
Walters said that Freo’s leaders were looking to stand up and help a young team push through to the end of the season.
“We have been dropping off over the past few years in the second half of the year. That comes down to the young group…and I don’t want to use that as an excuse, that’s just facts,” Walters said.
“As leaders…we want to make sure we carry the load of the team, Fyfey (Nat Fyfe) Dave (Mundy), they expect that. We just need players to lead, follow us, jump on our backs and help us along.
“We just need to make sure we’re staying positive, just let them know that our footy does stand up.
“We do have four more games to go and, hopefully, we can get back to that stage.”
Fremantle face the biggest test in football against the first-placed Geelong who are spending the week in Perth as they prepare for the clash.
“They are a quality team, there’s no hiding from that,” Walters said.
“They’ve come over expecting to play some good footy, so we need to make sure that we find that consistency and stick together.”
