Fremantle coach Ross Lyon vows he won't crumble after another Grand Final defeat

FREMANTLE coach Ross Lyon laments missed opportunities as he vows to return for a fifth shot at Grand Final glory.

MISSED chances! It was the common theme in Fremantle coach Ross Lyon's frank summary of how his boys came up short in the Grand Final.

Lyon said those fluffed chances, that started with Nathan Fyfe's two butchered set shots early in the opening quarter, were pivotal to apply pressure to Hawthorn in what was always going to be a tight, tough Grand Final contest.

"I think the start will haunt us for a while and the missed opportunities will hurt us. But it's a great lesson for our club on the basics under pressure - that is dropped marks, missed targets, missed tackles, missed shots. At the end of the day, they separate quality,'' he said.

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"Missed opportunities. From turnovers they kicked five straight and we kicked 2.9. In a tight, tough contest in the conditions that were out there today, we all know, we've seen it, it occurred again today.

"Would we have won? I'm not sure, but we certainly would've been able to put a little more pressure on them, particularly early. And then not as much effort to come from behind like we did.''

On whether the Dockers players were afflicted by nerves, Lyon said: "That's difficult for me to answer that. You would have to speak to the players, but I would be disappointed if we didn't handle it. But on the surface, we didn't execute with the aplomb that we can and should've.''

Lyon said he had already addressed what went wrong that allowed eventual Norm Smith medalist Brian Lake to get free for several timely, repelling marks in defence in the first half of the last quarter when Fremantle launched its final push for glory.

"I know how it happened. Certainly, no witch-hunt here. We had a structure in place that should've been adhered to and wasn't and we paid the penalty,'' the coach said.

Ross Lyon

"Those guys know who they are, we've spoken about that already. But there's no witch-hunt, what's the point? It's discipline under pressure to do what we want.

"He's a pretty handy player to suck into congestion and leave him rolling off. But that's just feedback for the guys who were involved in that.''

It was Lyon's fourth Grand Final and third loss following the numbing defeats with St Kilda. But he vowed not to "crumble'', drawing solace from the example of Malcolm Blight who lost three Grand Finals at Geelong before eventually winning consecutive flags with Adelaide.

"Personally I'm disappointed, but I'm disappointed for the club and the players, more so,'' he said.

"I understand how hard it is to get back. Our whole attitude is take the risk, do the work and keep turning up and keep improving.

"I think I read Malcolm Blight lost his first three and went on to win back-to-back. So, he had the fortitude to keep working, keep backing himself in and I certainly see that I'm not going to crumble.

"My job is to lead and work with the players and that's what I intend to do. Bitterly disappointed, but proud of the players efforts, but I take no satisfaction.

"We're here to win premierships and we fell short. I thought we were right in it, plenty of opportunities and had to make some adjustments and got it right.

"First and foremost, you look back on the first quarter and our inability to get what we wanted cost us and missed opportunities cost us any opportunity, if that makes sense.

"But outside of that, bar bits and pieces, I thought our ability to give great effort and fight on on the biggest stage should stand the club in good stead.''