Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir has hailed the maturity of his squad and the development of Murphy Reid after Freo’s gritty nine‑point win.
Longmuir praised his side’s composure after an inaccurate early showing threatened to derail their night.
Despite dominating play and generating repeated opportunities, Fremantle trailed on the scoreboard as Geelong capitalised on turnovers.
“We just didn’t get bang for buck,” Longmuir said.
“They preyed on our mistakes… whether we coughed the ball up or turned the ball over in areas that didn’t allow us to defend, which gave them some pretty easy looks back the other way.”
He credited the group’s growing maturity for not panicking when the scoreboard wasn’t reflecting their dominance.
“It’s a maturing group… they’re able to not get caught up in outcomes or disappointment around outcomes,” he said.
“Sometimes you get caught up in the ‘jeez, we’re not kicking straight’, and that frustration turns into us trying to chase a game, but I thought the players thought the method was okay, and they knew it would turn if we just kept at it - and they did.”
Fremantle piled on seven straight goals in the third term to seize control.
Longmuir credited the only teenager on the ground for yet another strong performance (27 disposals and a goal). Murphy Reid is continuing to defy the second-year blues.
“For me, a real basic view of second-year blues is that you don’t handle your first off‑season well - that’s second-year blues, because you come back and you’re behind the eight ball,” Longmuir said.
“It wasn’t the case with him. We felt like he set up well with the off‑season - he came back fitter, stronger, hungrier, and launched into pre‑season, and then that sets up your second season, because realistically you should improve in your second year, shouldn’t you?”
“I don’t think he’s had a game of less than 20 disposals in his second year”
“His work rate is second to none. He loves chasing the pill around and he finds it and uses it well, so yeah, he’s been super.”
Fremantle remain at home this week for a clash with Gold Coast on Sunday 28 June at 3.10pm.
