Eight words that expose Freo’s secret weapon in flag push; clear fix for broken Tribunal

Fremantle doesn’t know who they’re playing next week.

Some might see it as a throwaway line. For me, it spoke to the maturity of a playing group in a professionalism sweet spot.

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I was on the Fox Footy post-game panel on Thursday night with Kath Loughnan and Tom Hawkins when Caleb Serong joined us after the Dockers’ nine-point win over Geelong.

Kath asked Serong how he and Fremantle’s leaders were finding the balance between embracing the club’s 13-game winning streak while keeping things level-headed.

“As ‘JL’ (coach Justin Longmuir) would say, it’s one-straight win,” Serong told Fox Footy. “It’s a genuine mindset the group is embodying every day.

“We enjoy the win – you have to – but then come Monday we review the game, we leave on the Monday arvo and we move onto whoever we play next week. I don’t even know who that is yet!”

That’s the Freo vice-captain saying he doesn’t know who the Dockers’ next opponent is.

While some people might see that as being underprepared, I took it as proof the Dockers are genuinely living a week-to-week mindset. They are preparing, at most, to beat each team they come up against.

That mindset is helping in-game too. On Thursday night, the Dockers won a fifth game after trailing at half-time this season. It proves they’re not worried about who they’re playing next week or their next run of four games. They’re not worried about finishing the season with only one loss.

This group is so ‘in the moment’.

Externally, we can say it’s shaping as one of the great seasons of all-time. Since 1950, only Essendon (2000) and Geelong (2008) have gone through a home and away season with just one loss. And in the AFL era, only sides like Collingwood (2011), St Kilda (2009) and Carlton (1995) have gone through a season with just two losses.

Now, it’s getting ahead of ourselves to suggest Freo can achieve that, but there’s a certain sense of impregnability about Longmuir’s team this year. I look at the Collingwood 2023 season when the side was in so many close games, but you always felt like they were going to win. That’s what you get with this Fremantle team in 2026.

Fremantle fans, too, feel like they can win every game they play in – a rare attitude for a fan base in the West to have.

There’s a weird vibe going around that if the Dockers lose a couple of games, they’re ‘at risk’ of falling away. But the reality is they would have to lose four games in a row and teams underneath would have to win four games in a row – and they’d still be in second position. They are that far ahead of the chasing pack.

I can guarantee it right now: Freo finishes top two. And we don’t have many sides you’re able to say that about.

DARCY FOR COX … BUT MASON HAS A ROLE

Dockers selection, too, will be fascinating this week ahead of the game against Gold Coast.

Sean Darcy will be in the mix for his first game since Gather Round after playing well in his third straight WAFL game for Peel Thunder. I think he’ll come in this week and replace Mason Cox.

But Darcy’s return should not alter Luke Jackson’s role in any way. Darcy should play the exact role Cox has been doing – which is essentially ‘get out of Luke Jackson’s way’.

If Jackson wants to ruck, he rucks. If he wants to rest forward, Darcy takes over until he’s ready to return. If he wants to play as a midfielder, Darcy goes in and plays in the ruck.

Darcy could provide a little bit more in front of the footy than Cox has been doing and probably go like-for-like in the rucks. But it shouldn’t mean Jackson’s centre bounce time is cut by 15 per cent. Leave it exactly how it is – because Jackson, right now, is the most damaging player in the competition.

It also doesn’t mean Cox won’t have a significant gameday influence on this playing group.

Before the game against Geelong, I asked several Dockers leaders which player had been the most vocal around talking up playing in a primetime game on a Thursday night. The answer: Mason Cox.

Cox is one of just three premiership players on Fremantle’s list, alongside Jackson and Shai Bolton. He’s played in huge games at the MCG – and played well in them – and knows how to stand up on the big stage.

Culturally, Cox is going to be important, whether or not he’s in the side. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in a pseudo coaching position if he’s not playing game day, because this is still a young side, especially when you look at the lack of experience of playing in big games and playing in big finals.

ALL ‘BETWEEN THE EARS’ FOR BLUES

Five straight wins has Carlton in the wildcard mix.

The Blues are obviously faring differently to when they were under Michael Voss, but I’ve said all along it’s not like Carlton are a fitter side under Josh Fraser – and it’s likely not a lot to do with game plan.

Yes Fraser has made small tweaks with personnel and game plan. But really, it’s between the ears for these Carlton players.

You can see the shift. So maybe Carlton players needed a freshen up. Maybe they needed a few magnets flipped around.

Nonetheless, it just looks like they’ve shaken the second-half hoodoo under Fraser and have more belief in being able to execute their roles. Suddenly, they’re turning the strong starts they showed earlier in the season into complete four-quarter performances.

When talking about caretaker Fraser’s chances of winning the full-time role, there’s a sense of hesitancy because of how Carlton’s David Teague decision panned out.

While it’s easier said than done, you’ve got to separate the two. Yes you should look at the past, but you’ve also got to take this process as it stands.

Whether it’s a clever strategy or complete honesty, Fraser continues to say he’s not ready for the job – and Carlton has even suggested he’s not in the process at the moment. But it’d be ridiculous to say he wouldn’t be in the process. He has relationships with the players, is putting wins on the board and is the head coach right now.

He’s in the process.

Fraser just needs to continue delivering. He knows that and so does Carlton, so no one wants to upset the apple cart.

It’s a different situation to Teague in 2019. It’s a different playing group, a different coach and a different moment in time. That’s not saying Fraser is going to get the job, but he’d certainly be in the top two or three candidates right now – because you can’t ignore the fact he can coach and win games of footy. That’s all AFL is.

And Carlton needs a coach that can win. I don’t buy into factors like marketing the club or being able to ‘take heat’. Yes, there’s clubs in the competition that attract less heat than Carlton, but whether you’re coaching Carlton, Essendon, Collingwood, Hawthorn, West Coast, Fremantle or the Adelaide clubs, there’s pressure if you’re going to be a head coach. It’s more about: ‘Who’s going to give us best opportunity to win?’

MRO INCONSISTENCIES

I had hoped the MRO and tribunal confusion had eased, but it might’ve been a false dawn after all.

At the start of the year, there were calls made almost purely on action. Even decisions that went to the tribunal, common sense was shown.

But over the past four weeks, there are examples where that has gone out the window.

The fact Collingwood’s Billy Frampton had to go to the tribunal and challenge his three-week ban for that tackle on Brody Mihocek was silly – and it was shown up to be silly with the ban ultimately scrapped. The Paul Curtis tackle on Hamish Davis, I don’t think he had another option as a player than what he did.

The most dangerous thing isn’t these tackles. It’s that players don’t know what the outcome will be from a tackle or bump or physical situation on the field. There’s no consistency – and I don’t think they’ve had consistency for a number of years.

One major area I don’t get why they don’t use – although they basically say they won’t – is precedent. This game provides enough opportunity to see things that have happened in the past to use as precedent to suggest: ‘This happened then, this is what we’re going to do.’ They look at every incident in isolation and I think it just creates more grey.

Now, you’ve got this situation where players are going into contests on the field and don’t know what’s going to happen. They don’t know what’s right and wrong in different situations.

Josh Weddle’s three-week ban – although it’s technically the wrong decision and he should have tackled – the action came when Daniel Rioli had the footy in his hands about half a second before he made contact.

Yes he made the wrong decision to bump and you have to ride what happens with the bump and he breaks his jaw. But if that contact lands a centimetre lower or slightly to either side, it’s not even a free kick.

So, you’ve still got this ‘action v outcome’ situation.

The outcome of that Weddle contact is a broken jaw and a three-week suspension. But we’re still asking these players to do things they’re incapable of doing in the moment. Weddle couldn’t have changed his direction or course – and now he’s out for three weeks.

You could say Rioli is out for longer with a broken jaw, but it is a physical game of football.

I still think we need a framework in which players can be physical and make decisions – and know what’s going to happen.

Jy Simpkin’s social media comments supporting Curtis reflect the genuine frustration within the playing group – and the Kangaroos are meeting with Greg Swann on this – that they don’t know what’s right and wrong.

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