David Mundy says Fremantle’s midfield big reason why team lost to Sydney Swans in qualifying final

SENIOR on-baller David Mundy said the Fremantle midfield let down the team’s defenders in Saturday’s qualifying final loss to Sydney.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - SEPTEMBER 06: David Mundy of the Dockers breaks the tackle of Jarrad McVeigh of the Swans during the First Qualifying Final AFL match between the Sydney Swans and the Fremantle Dockers at ANZ Stadium on September 6, 2014 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

SENIOR on-baller David Mundy said the Fremantle midfield let down the team’s defenders in Saturday’s qualifying final loss to Sydney.

The Dockers were within five points of the Swans at half-time despite being belted in the midfield, yet couldn’t get value on the scoreboard after the major break despite working their way on top in the engine room.

MATCH: BUDDY BLITZ SENDS DOCKERS PACKING

AFL TO INVESTIGATE LYON-FAN CLASH

Fremantle lost the clearances (20-14), centre clearances (6-2) and contested possessions (79-72) in the first half, yet finished the game in front in all of those key statistical indicators after lifting in the second half.

For the second week in a row Mundy was subdued before-half time, with just eight disposals and two clearances, before playing a key role after the major break.

Fremantle's Danyle Pearce was subbed out against Sydney. Picture: Phil Hillyard

The former Doig medallist was tough on himself and said he couldn’t explain his slow starts.

“We absolutely lost the first half (in the midfield) and personally I was very poor in the first half,’’ Mundy said.

“I’ll go through that with my midfield coach. I thought this week I was better than last week, even though I still wasn’t getting the ball. At least I was tackling and in amongst it doing some of those things.

“I think it was a step in the right direction, but I’m still very disappointed, especially in the first quarter and the first half.’’

Mundy said the midfield needed to hold up better early on given the huge job faced by the team’s undersized defence.

“We really put our defenders under a lot of heat and we knew the challenges with that going in, so it was really disappointing for us to drop the ball in that regard,’’ he said.

“It’s disappointing to work so hard throughout the year and give ourselves a really good chance and come over here and not play as well as we would have liked.

A dejected Ryan Crowley on the final siren. Picture: Phil Hillyard

“I think definitely we’ll take some key learnings out of today, both as a midfield and as a team.’’

Mundy said the players would not be short of motivation despite the difficulty of needing to play in all four weeks of the finals if the Dockers are to qualify for the Grand Final.

“I’d certainly rather be playing than not playing at this time of year,’’ he said.

“The fact we have to maybe play a few more minutes towards the back end of the year, compared to last year, I don’t think will be a big factor.

“Obviously it’s got its physical challenges and we’re all aware of that, we have strict recovery protocols around those.

“But the mental battle is something we’ve really honed in on in the last few weeks and something that can potentially slip a little bit, so I think that’s where we’ll make some good gains this week.

“It’s nice to be playing at this time of the year and regardless of what’s happened today we’re going to be coming out next week red hot and giving it everything, because now we do go into cutthroat do-or-die finals.

“So there’s going to be a lot on the line and the boy are going to be flying in and having a crack.’’

Originally published as David Mundy says Fremantle’s midfield big reason why team lost to Sydney Swans in qualifying final