Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
A key trio will assume greater responsibility as Fremantle lean on what little premiership experience they have at their disposal in preparation for a shot at the club’s first AFL flag.
Dockers’ coach Justin Longmuir will let his players enjoy the afterglow of their extraordinary preliminary final fightback against Sydney before switching back into business mode.
When they do, they will turn to two-time Richmond premiership star Shai Bolton, former Melbourne match-winner Luke Jackson and ex-Collingwood tall Mason Cox for guidance.
All achieved the ultimate success at other clubs, but every other player in the Dockers’ line-up at the MCG next Saturday will be playing in their first grand final.
“We’ll draw on some of that,” said Longmuir, who was an assistant coach at West Coast (2015) and Collingwood (2018) in losing grand final years.
“We’ll try to outline a week where our players can accept and embrace the noise but also lean in and prepare really well for our opponent.
“It’s about finding a balance between embracing the week and accepting some of the challenges and distractions that present.
“But also making sure that when it’s time to work and lean into preparation, you do that really meticulously and therefore you’re well prepared on game day.”
Longmuir will bring his playing group together on Saturday before flying home to Perth from Sydney, where they fought back from 28 points down to overcome the Swans on Friday night.
The 12.11 (83) to 10.11 (71) victory advanced the Dockers to the second grand final in the club’s 32-year history – after their defeat to Hawthorn in the 2013 decider.
“We’ll talk about the week and some of the distractions and how we’re going to handle it,” Longmuir said.
“And we’ll draw on some of the experiences within the four walls to be able to help prepare the players.
“Tonight was such an epic performance to come from behind on the road, backs to the wall – we’re going to enjoy that.
“We’ll enjoy that for the next day or couple of days and get home and start preparing.”
Longmuir isn’t concerned about having to play consecutive interstate games, pointing to an eight-day break and meticulous plan as reasons to believe they can handle the task.
“Everything’s well-planned behind the scenes … that’s all been mapped out,” he said.
Fremantle claimed the minor premiership but were forced to take the long route to the grand final after losing their home qualifying final to Hawthorn.
Longmuir felt his players burnt too much nervous energy in the bye week leading into the Hawks contest, and believes regular games over the last three weeks have been a positive.
“There’s been a little bit more outside noise, but internally they’ve felt like normal weeks,” Longmuir said.
“I think it’s suited this group and like I said to them after the Hawthorn game, there’s no reason why we can’t win three games in a row.
“We won 14 games in games in a row this year, so that’s not an issue.
“We’ve got back-to-back travel but we’ve also faced back-to-back travel this year as well, and we won both of those games, so we’ll draw on some of those experiences and give it our best shot.”
