Despite kicking eight goals and winning the Ross Glendinning Medal in a superb individual Carlton Mid Derby display, Matthew Pavlich only wanted to talk about the team effort.

The Freo skipper was labelled the 'match-winner' following the game, but he said he had just benefited from the hard work up the field.

"It's always nice to play well in the Derby, there's no questioning that, but I was really pleased with the midfield's work," he said.

"I thought they really got to work early in the first quarter and the first half and set up the game for us.

"It's nice to be on the end of the work up the field and I've certainly been able to do that in the past few weeks."

Pavlich was also the beneficiary of a series of lightning-fast counter-attacks which often left him one-out against his opponent Eric Mackenzie in the forward 50.

He put that down to Fremantle's defensive structures.

"Our defence has been really building at stopping the opposition going inside 50 and therefore giving us the opportunity to rebound quickly," Pavlich said.

"There were two or three opportunities where, on a quick counter attack, we had an open forward line and the guys executed going inside 50m, which is pleasing."

After five wins in succession which have put Freo just a few percentage points out of the top eight, Pavlich labelled Saturday's clash with second-placed Adelaide at AAMI Stadium as "extremely important".

"We've got to keep building," he said.

"We've given ourselves a chance towards the end of the year.

"Adelaide are a terrific side, a very formidable opponent playing some terrific football.

"For us to continue to build is important and I think the confidence the guys have got from the past few weeks is important going into such a big game."

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